


Derek/Spencer Drabble Series

by Tiny_Rick



Category: Criminal Minds, Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: M/M, Tags May Change, please comment
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-21
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2020-10-25 01:30:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 38,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20715857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tiny_Rick/pseuds/Tiny_Rick
Summary: A big collection of Spencer Reid/Derek Morgan drabbles! I hope you like them, the first one is super cheesy (most of them are) and I hope you like them! There will be some hurt/comfort with insecure Spencer, some happy fluff, humor, and I plan to add one chapter a week. if you have an idea or request for a drabble comment and I will try my best to write it! I love taking requests and I write for readers!





	1. A Sleepy Genius

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry this first chapter is so cheesy! I was just trying to get the creative juices flowing lol, let me know what you think! Comments mean the wold to me!

“I brought you a present, pretty boy.” Derek grinned, taking the back of Spencer’s chair and spinning him around before handing him a hot cup of coffee. Spencer’s face lit up and he reached up to get it, but before he could Derek moved in and gave him a kiss, pushing to mug into his hand with one arm and wrapping the other around Spencer’s wasit firmly. “How’s the report going?” Derek asked, glancing up at Spencer’s extensive notes and papers. He’d told the older man exactly what he was doing a few times, some kind of medical report, but after Derek heard the word “pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis” he sort of stopped understanding.

“It’s going well.” Spencer spoke flatly. “Just not well enough.” He explained, tilting his head and taking a sip. Derek gave him a gentle smile and began to softly pet his hair, making Spencer relax and close his eyes.

“How about you take a break, baby? Get some sleep, how long have you been working on this?” Derek asked, trying to subtly move the young doctor away from all his work. Spencer yawned and waved him off.

“Not long, thursday after we got home from that case… and then Hotch gave us the weekend unless we have another one, so just since then.” Spencer explained dismissively. Derek sighed, Spencer was always specific with time, down to the second, so when he got fuzzy on details it was normally because he’s burnt out.

“Baby boy, it’s 10pm on Friday, okay? You’ve been away for two days, you gotta get some rest.” He urged lightly. It wasn’t uncommon for Spencer to get off a case and dive into more work, a sort of distraction from any horror he might have seen during it.

Spencer didn’t answer, he just made a sort of humming sound and looked up from his research to officially type a few sentences, before diving back into the books and equations. But his work was cut short when he felt himself get lifted up from his desk chair. “Derek! Put me down you’re gonna mess up my work!” Spencer tried to weakly fight him and managed to grab one of his notebooks off the desk before being carried into the bedroom. Derek set him on the bed and he went back to skimming his notebook, before that was taken from him too. “Derek,  _ please _ .” Spencer tried, but the older man shook his head.

“Spencer, I know it’s hard to shut off that beautiful brain of yours, but you gotta try or you’ll end up killing yourself.” Morgan explained. Reid sighed and let his shoulders drop.

“I won’t be able to sleep,” he rubbed his eye with the heel of his palm “my head’s going too fast. The only way I’ll get any rest is if I burn myself out.” This made Derek laugh a bit.

“We both know that’s never gonna happen, you are an anomaly, Spencer Reid.” He admitted. Spencer just smiled tiredly and Derek handed him some pajamas. “Get ready for bed, baby.” He urged. Spencer nodded and Derek went to the bathroom to wash up and brush his teeth, he was only gone a minute, but when he came back Spencer was curled in a little ball on top of the covers, fast asleep. He hadn’t even managed to put on his pajamas. Morgan smiled lovingly and quietly made his way over, dressing Reid carefully and making sure to plant little kisses wherever he could. Spencer smiled a bit and made a sort of cooing noise as he awoke a tiny bit and felt it.

“Go back to sleep, Spencer.” Derek whispered, and Spencer’s eyes fell shut again. Derek finished dressing him and pulled back the covers, making sure both blankets were pulled up to Spencer’s chin. He always got so cold, probably because he was so thin, Spencer often woke up shivering and burrowing closer to Derek for warmth.

After Spencer was tucked in, Derek slipped under the blankets himself and switched off the light. As soon as it was dark Spencer rolled over and scooted closer to Derek, making the other man slip his arms around his lithe frame.

“Good night, baby boy, I love you so so much.” Derek whispered to him. Spencer made a small noise that might have been his sleep-deprived attempt at return the sentiment. This made Derek laughed and he couldn’t help burying his head in Spencer’s curly hair, kissing the top of his head and taking in his scent.

When Spencer woke up the next morning he was warm, wrapped up in a fluffy blanket with a pair of big arms wrapped around him holding him tight. Spencer smiled and snuggled deeper into Derek’s chest, closing his eyes and gripping his shirt. He looked up when he heard a soft laugh come from above him. “Sleep well, pretty boy?” Derek asked softly, leaning down to plant a kiss to Spencer’s forehead.

“Mm-hm.” He mumbled.

“And you thought you’d be awake all night because of that big brain.” Morgan teased. Spencer yawned and blinked owlishly, rubbing some of the sleep from his eyes and stretching in a cat-like manner.

“I usually am awake all night, even if I’m tired it just… doesn’t let me sleep.” Spencer replied, but then smiled at Derek, throwing his arms back on the pillow looking completely relaxed. “But everything is so quiet with you, even when it’s not… I can rest.”

“You’re not making much sense, baby.” Derek laughed. Spencer shrugged and sat up, stretching again.

“I haven’t had coffee yet.” He explained with a big crooked grin. Derek felt a warmth well up in his chest when he saw that smile. The Spencer-smile that proved he would be okay, and he was happy, even if he had been through and seen things nobody should have to. Spencer slipped out of Derek’s arms and out from under the blankets, immediately shivering and pulling one of the blankets back around him. “Come on, I’ll put on a pot of coffee. We mind as well relax before we get called back for another case.” He suggested, pulling on a pair of very fluffy, warm looking socks and padding out to the kitchen.

Derek smiled and laid back for a moment, listening to Spencer shuffled around and the sound of him filling up the coffee maker. He heard Clooney’s paws skitter across the hard kitchen floor and Spencer’s voice cooed at him, asking the mutt if he wanted breakfast.

The Reid Effect had long since worn off on Clooney, and now Derek was wondering if his dog preferred the skinny genius to his master. Spencer would wait until Derek wasn’t looking before ushering Clooney up onto the couch to cuddle, and when Derek said “no” to the dog, Spencer would lay on the floor with him and use him like a big pillow. He would give the dog table food and chastise Derek when he scolded Clooney too harshly. Claiming the six year old, trained dog was “just a little puppy! He doesn’t know any better!”

Derek made his way into the kitchen to see Spencer quickly hide something behind his back. “Don’t feed him bacon, Spence.” Derek tried. Spencer frowned.

“But he likes it and he looked at me with those big eyes and whimpered.” Spencer explained with urgency, giving the dog the rest of the small piece. “What was I supposed to do? Say  _ no?!” _ He asked in shock. Derek chuckled a bit and sat down on the couch in front of the mug of coffee Spencer had prepared for him.

Spencer jumped up onto the couch and nestled into Derek’s arms again, flipping on the TV and putting on the Sci-Fy channel. Derek laughed a bit as Spencer became absorbed in the “Ancient Aliens” show.

“You don’t actually believe this stuff, do you?” Morgan asked. Reid shrugged.

“Learning requires an open mind to all theories and speculations.” Spencer explained. “There was a time when people thought the Earth’s rotation was the most far fetched lie out there.” He reminded. Derek nodded and pretended to look back at the show, but kept sneaking glances at the little genius in his arms, how he would take a sip of his coffee, fix his glasses and then point to the tv, rambling on about some sort of fact or another. Derek smiled fondly as Spencer started to explain the evidence of gravitational pulls, and why people thought some crash sites were haunted. Derek just smiled and let him ramble, flapping his hands excitedly as he got more and more into his little rant, a soft pink blush dusted his face as he got more excited.

And seeing this, Derek was positive, that he was the luckiest man in the world.


	2. An Overused Troupe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So I know this exact idea has been used a billion times, but every time I see stories like this I always love them because i am absolute garbage. This one is probably super ooc but this is for fun lol. Please comment and tell me what you think it would mean the world to me! Also if you want to request a one shot send in a comment and I would love to try out your prompts! Seriously, send me prompts and comments! Now that September is over the hell month of school is too!

“An equation for aliens? I don’t believe it.” Derek turned around when he heard a voice from behind him in the club. The team had filtered in to try and have a good time on their night off, Derek had spent most of the night with Spencer, but left his side a moment to dance with Garcia. And now another man was in Morgan’s seat talking to Reid.

“It’s true, it’s called the Drake Equation and it’s suspected to be accurate. Of course we’re yet to contact intelligent life from another world so there’s no guarantee.” Spencer responded to the new guy. New Guy stepped a bit closer and Spencer missed the way he eyed him up and down. The little genius was just happy he found someone so interested in Astrophysics!

“No guarantee, huh?” New Guy echoed, not really interested in what Spencer had to say, now he was kind of looking him all around rather than just up and down. Spencer again paid no mind.

“I’ve tried to come up with a counter theory for knowledge sake, but I think with all our presented evidence the Drake Theory works best for…” Spencer kept babbling on, but Derek had stopped listening. He was too preoccupied with how this New Guy was inching closer and creeping his arm around Spencer’s shoulders. Spencer jumped a bit when he realized this and started laughing a bit, his face reddening. “Uhm… y-your arm.” He started, making New Guy laugh.

“So what do you say we get out of here?” New Guy asked, putting his fingers under Spencer’s chin and tilting his head up to look at him.

“Oh I’m here with my friends.” Spencer gestured to his team, laughing at something Rossi had said. This made Derek smile a little bit, his Pretty Boy chose  _ them  _ over some new dude who thinks he’s smooth.

“Come on, babe, at least let me buy you a drink.” He urged. “Then you can tell me all about your other space theories.” He offered with a grin. Spencer blushed deeper and looked down shyly.

“I… I guess that would be okay.” He agreed. New Guy smiled big and motioned for the bartender while putting his hand on the small of Spencer’s back, Spencer glanced down, but didn’t protest. This made Derek incredibly angry for an unknown reason. He had no excuse to be so angry at the guy chatting Spencer up, but he was. Derek wanted to march over there and punch his teeth out, grab Spencer, and take him far far away from this club and any other prying eyes.

“Why aren’t you dancing with me anymore?” Garcia whined, trying to pull Derek back onto the dance floor. Morgan shook himself from his thoughts and took her hands away.

“I’ll be right back, mama, gonna check on Reid.” Derek told her.

“Oh it looks like our boy wonder is getting it on just fine.” She giggled, looking at the man who was putting his hands all over Spencer.  _ Derek’s  _ Spencer.

Morgan ignored this remark and made his way over to the bar just as New Guy was handing Reid a drink. “You’ll like this, it’s sweet.” New Guy explained. He already knew Reid had a sweet tooth? How much was Spencer telling this guy?

“It’s good… did you know that during prohibition-”

“Where’d you run off to, Pretty Boy? Who’s your friend?” Derek interrupted. Spencer turned to see his friend approach and put a hand on Spencer’s shoulder, staring down the New Guy.

“I’m Kyle.” New Guy introduced himself. He slipped his hand from the small of Spencer’s back to hook around his waist. “Spencer and I were just about to head back to my place for some coffee, right babe?” Kyle asked. Spencer flushed again and tucked his hair behind his ear nervously.

“I-I like coffee.” He smiled shyly and missed the implication. Spencer was about to follow Kyle out the club doors when he felt a hand on his shoulder stop him.

“Maybe you should just head home alone, buddy.” Morgan barely kept himself from growling and Spencer shot him a look.

“Derek?” Spencer questioned, but he was ignored.

“He can make his own decisions.” Kyle huffed, crossing his arms. Morgan looked at him angrily and pulled Spencer from his grasp.

“Well he’s not going home with you, so beat it!” He snapped. Kyle was about to retort but felt intimidated by the bigger man.

“Whatever… skinny thing’s hardly worth it.” He huffed, leaving a hurt look on Spencer’s face and turning away to find someone else to try and get to go home with him. Morgan felt pride swell up at the New Guy leave, but it was short lived when he felt Spencer rip away from him and shoot him an angry look.

“What the hell is your problem?” Spencer asked, crossing his arms over his chest. “He was being nice.”

“ _ Nice?! _ ” Derek asked in shock. “Reid he was just trying to get into your pants.” He broke the news, and Spencer’s face grew harder.

“You don’t know that! He was nice to me, he was interested in what I have to say… you hardly care when I talk unless it’s something useful.” Spencer turned away from Derek on his heel. Morgan groaned and ran his hand over his head.

“I do know that! Spencer, guys like that are only after one thing and you’re just a target!” He snapped. Spencer gritted his teeth and shrugged him off.

“He was nice to me, he listened to me.” Spencer said again. Morgan rolled his eyes.

“Grow up, Spencer! Of course he listened to you, he was trying to get you in bed! Why else would he have spent all night listening to your annoying ramblings and statistics? He said himself you’re not worth it, you’re just embarrassing yourself.” Derek snapped at him. He knew he was going so far, the minute he said all those things. But seeing that other guy chat up  _ his  _ Pretty Boy made him so angry! And he just wanted Spencer to never ever talk to another man again, no matter how selfish that was.

But Derek regretted taking out his anger on Reid the minute he finished. Because his little genius’ eyes grew big and shiny at hearing all those words, and he looked up at Morgan with a hurt look. “Fuck… Reid, I didn’t-”

“No… y-you’re right… I was being stupid.” Spencer cut him off. Derek tried to cut in again and reach out to Spencer, but Reid stepped back. “I shouldn’t have been willing to go home with him… we see strangers do horrible things everyday and I… I just thought he liked me but… I should have known better.” He was rambling now, and trying really hard not to let his hurt show. Derek felt his heart clench at the way Spencer looked down at himself in disgust. He really thought he was completely unlovable.

“Spencer no! H-he did like you I’m just-”

“If he liked me then why did you say that?” Spencer asked, hurt started to leave his face and confusion replaced it. This made Derek want to smile, the kid was tough, hurt his feelings and he’d bounce back to figure out why. Not just roll over and take it. “Your previous statement is contradictory.” Reid added, he scrunched his nose up in the adorable was he did when he was confused-- a feeling the genius was not used to and didn’t like too much.

“Spencer I am so sorry, I should have never said those terrible things. I just…” Derek trailed off and looked down at Spencer. The young genius brushed some hair from his face and looked up at the other agent with big doe eyes, staring at him with curiosity and total trust and something more that Derek couldn’t pinpoint.

“You what?” Spencer asked, growing impatient.

“I didn’t want you to go home with a stranger… we see too much to let you do something like that.” Derek explained. It wasn’t a complete lie, he was concerned about that, but it didn’t even cross his mind when he saw Kyle put his arm around Reid, he was just angry. “I… I gotta look out for you, man.” Morgan said dismissively.

“So that’s why you called me annoying and undesirable? Because I’m too naive to make my own choices?” Spencer snapped, the hurt from earlier replaced with something else. Derek was about to shake his head but Reid gritted his teeth and jabbed a finger in his chest, raising his voice. “I don’t wanna hear it, Derek! I was having a fun time with a nice guy who thought I was interesting! And I let you chase him away and make me feel bad about myself,  _ again!”  _ Reid continued. Derek was about to ask what that meant, but Spencer kept going. At this point people were listening, including their team from a few tables over. “Well I can make my own choices, and if I wanna go home with some guy I will! And if I want to sleep with him it’s none of your goddamn business! I’m an adult! So stop treating me like a child!” He finished yelling before shoving past Morgan and storming out of the club, his messenger bag clutched to his side firmly.

Derek just watched him leave as the rest of their team exchanged shocked looks. “So… what happened there?” Prentiss asked as gently as she could, stepping behind Derek, who only shook his head.

“I fucked up.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hey there Pretty Boy.” Derek said carefully, moving towards Spencer’s desk and putting down an extra sugary cup of coffee. Spencer didn’t look up from the file he was working on, but he reached out and picked up the paper cup, making Derek smile, but his smile quickly vanished when Spencer chucked the cup in the garbage can next to him. “Come on, kid!” Derek cried out. “I said I was sorry, what else do you want?” He asked exasperated.

Spencer dropped his pen and crossed his arms, looking up at Derek with a stern look. “I want to know why you treat me different.” Spencer confessed. Morgan looked a little shocked and Reid took the hint to explain further. “You treat me like a child, you’re overprotective, and you always try and cheer me up when I’m down on myself,” he started “but then you turn around and pull what you did last night! So what is it? Do you think I’m an annoying, undesirable kid? Or just your nieve baby brother you have to keep out of trouble? Either way you don’t treat the rest of the team anything like that and I wanna know why.” Reid demanded. To his credit despite his harsh words he kept his cool, keeping his arms crossed and refusing eye contact.

“Kid, I-”

“Don’t call me that.” Spencer demanded. Morgan sighed.

“I don’t think any of those things about you, Reid.” Derek confessed. “I think you’re funny, and interesting and quirky and  _ scary  _ smart.” he started, Spencer began to meet his eyeline. “And I wanted to pumble that jerk when he said you weren’t worth it, because you are worth  _ so much,  _ Spencer.” He told the young genius. Spencer looked at him with confusion and hurt.

“Then why did you say all those things?” He asked. “Why did you… you were never the one who made me feel like garbage, or a freak, or worthless… and I thought you’d be happy for me that I found someone who thought I was cool but you just got mad at me.” Spencer’s voice broke a bit and Derek’s heart clenched.

“I wasn’t mad at you, Spencer, I was mad at him!” Derek explained. Spencer gave a questioning look and Morgan put his hand over his. “I didn’t want some guy putting his hands all over you just to get you in bed! You deserve to be listened to and praised and paid attention to because you’re wonderful, Spencer! You’re amazing and sweet and kind and I’m stupid for not listening to your ramblings more cause you always have something important to say! And you should be treated that nicely because it’s what you deserve, not to get in your pants!” Morgan didn’t realize he was shouting, but it was clear once he saw Spencer’s shocked face he was.

“Morgan?” Spencer could only muster. Derek took Spencer’s hand and placed a very soft kiss on the genius’ palm. Spencer’s eyes grew huge and he stared at the way Derek held his hand lovingly, before the older man leaned in and gave him a very light kiss on the corner of his mouth, smoothing Spencer’s hair out as he did so. Reid stared at him with giant eyes for a long time, before shaking himself out of his trance and looking away bashfully, a dark red blush creeping up his neck. “Are you making fun of me?” He asked, forcing some harshness into his tone. But Derek just laughed softly and shook his head.

“Never.”

“Then…” Spencer touched the spot Derek had kissed and slowly looked up at the other man. If he wasn’t mocking Spencer for his stupid crush, what else could he have meant? “Then why?” He finally mustered. Derek smiled at him and tried not to give a lighthearted laugh, worried Spencer would take it the wrong way.

“You’re a genius, figure it out.”


	3. author's note

So I've been fostering four kittens for a little over a month and today they went to their forever homes! I'm so sad cause they were so sick when I got them I gave them medicine and helped them to sleep and and held them while they got sick, I feel like my babies are gone.  
I might be running a little low on creative fuel but writing helps with the sadness, so if you guys wanna send in prompts I'd really appreciate it and do my best to post them.


	4. Nightmares and Comfort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is another super over used troupe but the fact that Spencer has so many nightmares breaks my heart so I wanted to do some good old fashioned comfort and domestic activities! Enjoy! Please comment I've been so sad about my foster babies leaving it really brightens me up, I know it's sort of stupid to ask for comments I should just make comment-worthy work, but you guys always have the nicest things to say!

“Derek… Derek, wake up.” Derek felt himself get shaken awake. He yawned and looked up at his boyfriend’s silhouette in the darkness. “Derek?” Spencer asked, his voice shaky. Derek sat up at hearing this voice come from his younger lover.

“I’m awake, baby, what’s wrong?” He asked, taking Spencer into his arms. Spencer sniffled a bit and Derek felt something tug at his heart. “Spence, what happened?” He asked.

“Nightmare…” Spencer mumbled, clinging onto Derek’s shirt. Derek nodded and just held him tighter. Spencer didn’t always do this, sometimes he would slip out of bed and sit alone in the living room, terrified out of his mind and reprimanding himself for being scared. Derek wished the man would be easier on himself, accept more help and treat himself a little kinder. But Spencer was always sure he was doing something wrong, he had to be stronger. But some nights, when the nightmares were really bad, Spencer would stop caring. It was like something switched in his brain and all dignity went out the window, he just wanted to be held.

“Hey it’s okay, baby boy.” Derek hushed him when he felt how much Spencer’s skinny frame was trembling. He kissed his head and heard a quiet sob Spencer tried to muffle by burying his face in Derek’s shoulder. “You wanna tell me what it was about?” Derek asked, petting his hair the way he knew Spencer liked.

“It… it was the one with Gideon…” Spencer choked, and Derek nodded, but Spencer continued. “He-he was the unsub again… but this time he got you… and I-I-I kept asking him why he… but he didn’t… he was laughing at me… and you were dead…” Spencer’s voice broke and he cut himself off with more sobs.

“Hey, shhh, it’s okay.” Derek soothed. “I’m here, I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere Spencer.”

“He tried to get me…” Spencer whimpered.

“Gideon?” Derek asked confused, but Spencer shook his head. “Then who, baby?”

“I don’t know.” Spencer admitted. “But he was bad… and he was trying to get me…” He cried into Derek’s shoulder and the older man held him tight, just petting his hair and whispering soothing words to him until his sobs stopped. Derek kept on holding Spencer, only shifting when he felt Reid’s breathing even out. Morgan looked down at Spencer, trying to see his face.

"Baby?” Derek whispered into his curly hair. “You awake?” He kept his voice low in case Spencer had finally drifted off. But the genius gave a little ‘mm-hm’ in response. “Close your eyes, Spencer.” Derek encouraged. “I’ll be right here the whole time.”

“Promise?” Spencer tilted his head up to look at Derek with wide eyes. He looked so tired, forcing himself to stay awake, out of fear of what he’d see when he closed his eyes.

“I promise.” Derek swore. At hearing this Spencer let his eyes flutter closed and Morgan pulled the blanket up, wrapping the genius up in a little cocoon and holding it tight. “ _ Nobody _ is going to get you, or hurt you, or take you away…  _ ever.” _ Derek tightened his hold on Spencer, only loosening it when he heard the younger man whimper.

“Derek… you’re squishing me.” Spencer mumbled, his voice heavy with sleep. Derek let up a bit but still held on tight, kissing the top of Spencer’s fluffy hair.   
“Sorry, baby boy.” He whispered back, but Spencer was already asleep, face buried in Derek’s chest.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Spencer woke up he was surrounded by ever pillow and blanket in the bed, like somebody had built a protective nest around him. He yawned and rubbed his eyes, before noticing he was being held in place by a strong set of arms. Spencer smiled lovingly as the memories of the night before flooded back to him. He remembered being so scared, and then being so loved and comforted. Spencer snuggled closer to Derek and resumed his place in his arms.

“Good morning, Pretty boy.” a voice came from above him and Spencer looked up with a sleepy smile. “Looks like someone feels better.” Derek grinned down at him.

“Thanks to you.” Spencer mumbled, grabbing Derek’s shirt and pulling his face into it.   
“Spencer, what are you doing?” Morgan laughed a bit.

“Smelling you.” Spencer responded seriously. “Y’smell like dark blue… s’nice.” Spencer slurred, feeling sleepy again. This response made Derek laugh, disturbing the genius’ cuddle time and causing him to look at his older lover with a scrunched up face. “What’s so funny?” He asked in the most grumpy tone he could muster.

“How do I smell like a color?” Morgan asked, making Reid shrug.

“I don’t know… colors just make more sense sometimes.” He explained. “Not very scientific… but it feels right.” Spencer continued. Derek nodded, the statement somehow making sense for somebody like Spencer. “You know last night… in my dream,” Spencer began and Derek stiffened a bit, “everything was dark blue, a vibrant blue, like the most clear night sky… but then it started to get scary, and the nightmare started and… the blue went away.” Spencer seemed to get detached more and more as he spoke, then shook his head a bit and looked back at Derek with a smile. “But then you were there for me when I woke up, and held me till I fell asleep, and I dreamed of blue again. But that time it wasn’t just blue, there were flakes of gold and silver, like lapis lazuli or blue goldstone.” He gave Derek a smiled and the older man moved in, stealing a kiss and making Spencer humm happily.

“I like it when you have good dreams.” Derek mumbled, and Spencer nodded.

“Me too,” he laughed a bit. Derek went to steal another kiss, but stopped when Spencer yawned. “Sorry, m’still sleepy.” Spencer hummed. Morgan laughed and wrapped his arms around Spencer’s waist, pulling him closer and peppering his face in kisses, causing the younger man to start laughing. “Derek cut it out!” Spencer laughed, his face turning red as Derek kissed down his jaw and neck. He gave him one last big kiss before pulling away and running his fingers through Spencer’s curly hair, Derek stayed like that for a while as Spencer blinked very slowly, almost like a cat.

“You wait here, baby boy. I’ll be right back.” Derek promised, giving Spencer yet another kiss and slipping out of bed. He walked into the kitchen, letting Clooney out on the way and proceeded to fill the dog’s bowl with food. After it was full he made his way to the coffee machine and started making a cup for him and Spencer, just the way he knew his pretty boy like, with a fair amount of cream and way too much sugar.

Before he finished putting extra whipped cream in Spencer’s mug, he felt a set of thin arms wrap around his waist. Morgan laughed. “What are you doing Pretty Boy, I told you I’d be right back?” He reminded.

“Took too long.” Spencer mumbled, his voice muffled by Derek’s night shirt. Derek turned around with Spencer’s mug and handed it to him, reveling in how cute his little genius looked. He was in fluffy night pants with different periodic table element symbols printed on them in various pastel colors. He was in fuzzy slippers and one of Derek’s (far too large) tee shirts, with his favorite dusty pink sweater he only wore around the house. It was a thick knitted sweater that kept the always-cold-genius warm.

Spencer grinned and licked up a little of the whipped cream, his knitted hood falling over his face. He took a sip of the coffee and stared up at Derek for a minute. “What is it, Spencer?” Morgan asked, brushing the hood from Reid’s face.

“Thanks for taking such good care of me last night.” Spencer mumbled, moving closer to Derek and settling against him, in the way that meant ‘put your arms around me right now’. So Derek obliged and held him close.

“I’ll always be here for you, Spencer.” He promised quietly, kissing the top of his head and silently thanking whatever brought Spencer into his life.


	5. Too Dumb For Your Own Good

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spencer has always thought of himself as a freak, being an asset to the government since he was a child and used for his intelligence, he just wants to feel normal for once. Maybe Derek will like him, or maybe he'll get scared off by Spencer's big brain.  
My first AU in this series! Both work for different areas of the government! Enjoy! let me know what you think!

“Pretty boy!” Spencer turned when he heard somebody calling out to him, a giant smile on his face. “Brought you that sugary coffee you like so much.” Derek handed Spencer the paper cup and the genius' face went bright red as he stammered out a thank you. “Well…” Derek waited but Spencer said nothing. “I’ll see you later then.” He clapped a hand on his back and ran up the stairs, probably late for work again.

“You know if you like him so much you should say something, he clearly likes you too.” Penelope gestured to the coffee in Spencer’s hand as she snuck up behind him. The FBI agent, Derek Morgan, from the top floor of the government building has been hitting on the mystery boy for nearly a month. The only clue about him was the jacket with the government issues NASA patch on it, meaning Spencer worked on the bottom floor. But Derek still made the detour to give his crush coffee or ask him about his night. And poor Spencer has been too nervous to do anything about it.

“I can’t  _ say  _ something to him… that’s the last thing I want to do.” Spencer mumbled. “He actually likes me and I don’t want to mess it up.” He stressed.

“Why do you think you’d mess it up? He really has a thing for you.” Penelope encouraged.

“He has a thing for some government employee he hardly knows. I don’t wanna start rambling about science and statistics and show him… what a freak I am.” Reid rubbed his fingers along the coffee cup and sighed.

“Spence, you do some incredible things, and I should know. I work tech for every department in this building and the things you’ve done are beyond genius-”

“That’s the problem!” Spencer cut her off, throwing an arm up. “Everyone says I must be so lucky to have a mind like mine but I just want to be able to talk to  _ somebody  _ normally! Everything they see me read or quote something from memory… people say it’s cool or impressive… but I see the look on their face, Garcia, they’re thinking ‘what  _ is that’ _ .” Spencer looked away embarrassed and Garcia tried to console him, but he kept going. “I’m a  _ thing  _ to people… and now somebody really cool and great likes me… I can’t let him  _ see.” _ Reid looked down at himself self consciously. Penelope wanted to say something to cheer him up, but a man in another NASA jacket poked his head out of the bottom door on the stairwell.

“Reid, we need you.” He said, before ducking back in.

“I have to go.” Spencer told her, running quickly down the last of the steps and vanishing behind the door.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So what exactly is it you do with NASA?” Spencer jumped when he heard a voice behind him again. He was in the communal break room in the lobby getting coffee. Some floors didn’t allow food or drink because of the expensive equipment. Derek was also getting some coffee, but Spencer could have sworn the BAU had its own break room.

“Oh I…” Spencer looked down for a moment before speaking without thinking. “I’m a financial consultant.” He lied quickly. “I go over… budget stuff.” He lied again and wanted to kick himself. If that were true he wouldn’t be in the lab building. Derek gave him a very confused look.

“Then how come you’re stationed in the labs?” He asked. Spencer wanted to groan when the exact scenario he wanted to avoid played out.

“I uhm… I don’t know.” He finally forced out, but it sounded more like a question. Spencer quickly turned back to his coffee and Derek got the hint to change the subject.

“So what do you like about working for NASA?” He asked. Spencer clamped his mouth shut. He was about to ramble on and on about the counter to the Drake Theory he wrote in high school and the government grant he received at age 19 to run an exploration program, and the millions upon millions of codes he’d written and analyzed and committed to perfect memory.

“Well you know… stars are pretty.” Spencer forced a big smile and Morgan laughed.

“You’re funny.” He shook his head and took his coffee. “I’ll see you later, pretty boy.” Morgan gave a cool wave and Spencer smiled, watching him leave up the stairs.

“What the hell was that?” Garcia asked, revealing herself from where she’d listened to the whole conversation.

“Did you hear that Garcia?” Spencer asked with a big grin, ignoring her question. “I made him laugh! He  _ does  _ like me!”

“What happened to you speech about sci-fi and breaking the boundaries between fiction and reality and finding the next era of humanity in space? When I asked you why you work for NASA I couldn’t get you to shut up for fifteen minutes.” Garcia crossed her arms and Spencer grumbled.

“I know! That’s why I have to be careful with this one, I think he’s actually starting to really like me!” He grinned again and spun on his heel.

“But does he like you… or the person you’re pretending to be?” Garcia asked.

“There’s no difference! I’m still the same person just… normal.” Reid promised. “I have to get back to work, I’ll see you later.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Quantum and astrophysics and it’s relation to geology and the Earth.” Derek read the title of the obscenely long book he found on the bench outside the parking garage. He picked it up and tried to keep all the extensive notes from falling out of the sides, equations and solutions written up and down post-it notes. He opened the cover of the book and smiled fondly when he read the name on the inside.

_ This Book Belongs To: _

_ Spencer Reid _

_ If found please return to bottom floor of GAA building (please, it’s my favorite book) _

Derek found himself smiling big ad he put the book into his go-bag and nearly jogged back into the building, almost leaping down the last flight of steps to the lab. As soon as he opened the door a woman in a white lab coat with the NASA patch stopped him from going further

“You need a coat and goggles to get in, they’re testing reactors the plasma beams get too bright to look at.”

“Oh uhm, I’m actually FBI. I’m looking for Spencer Reid.” Derek explained. “I found his book.” He showed the girl the large novel and she smiled.

“Oh, right, of course.” She laughed. “I didn’t think I’ve seen you around the lab. He’s working on the plasma beam with Dr. Norwell.” The woman pulled some dark goggles over her eyes before walking into the back room. She was gone for a while and Derek decided to sit down, keeping the book safe. But soon the door swung open and Derek felt his heart beat a little faster. Spencer was standing there in a big lab coat with huge goggles and big gloves, he had smudges of some sort of motor oil all over his face and coat and Derek had never seen a cuter sight.

“Derek, what are you doing here?” Spencer asked. Derek didn’t respond, he just held the book up. Reid’s face lit up and he ran forward.

“You found it! I’ve been looking everywhere for this book I thought I’d lost it for good this time you won’t believe how many times I’ve left it in random places, I just get so wrapped up with work.”

“I can’t believe you actually can read that thing.” Morgan laughed a bit and Spencer froze.

“It’s uh… it’s not mine.” Spencer lied.

“It’s your name on the inside… it even says its your favorite book.” Derek laughed, and Spencer looked away, his face flushed red. Derek then got a curious look. “And I thought you said you did budget stuff, why were you in the lab? That woman you work with said you were making some kind of plasma beam?”

“I wasn’t!” Spencer said a bit too loud. “I um… I mean… it’s really Dr. Norwell’s project, I’m just his assistant.” Reid lied again. Derek stood still for a moment, just staring at the younger man before shrugging.

“Well I was wondering if you would like to get dinner with me sometime.” Derek asked. Spencer’s face lit up and he nodded excitedly.

“I’d love to!” He exclaimed. Derek smiled and was about to continue when a much older man came out of the lab.

“Spencer! I need you to find a way to stabilize this now!” He barked. Spencer stood up straight and blushed.

“Y-Yes sir!” He responded quickly, waving at Derek and running back into the room. The other man followed him and Derek tried to watch them as long as he could. As soon as Spencer was in the room he began scribbling long lists of numbers and symbols on a white board, he said something to his boss, and then continued to work on some equations. Morgan narrowed his eyes a bit and saw Spencer open his book and hand another doctor one of the notes he’d taken. The other scientist smiled and started nodding before entering something in a computer.

“Budget consultant my ass.” Morgan muttered before leaving the building and taking out his phone to do some Googling.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Are you ready to go?” Spencer asked nervously, seeing Derek waiting outside the building. The day Derek set the time for their date, Spencer had been a nervous wreck. He’d even been late to work, worried he was wearing the wrong thing.

“Yeah let’s head out.” Derek agreed, smiling at him. Spencer beamed and he jumped to stand by Derek’s side, bursting with happy energy. He did it! He finally kept it together long enough to get somebody to like him back! “I was thinking we’d go to this Asian Fusion place I really like.”

“That sounds great!” Spencer agreed, stopping himself from sharing the fact he knew about the start of fusion dining.

“They’ve got these pictures of Thai carvings all over the walls, I think they’re like, cave drawings or something.” Derek continued, and Spencer gave him a nod. “So… do you think they’d be cave drawings or just ancient art?” He tried, being a little less subtle. Spencer shook his head.

“I don’t know.” Spencer responded.

“You’re not into ancient history?” Morgan asked. And Spencer shook his head.

“No. I don’t even know anything about it.” He laughed, continuing down the sidewalk.

“Well you wrote a thesis on it.” Derek finally spoke up and Spencer halted where he stood. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights. “I uhm… you seemed so accomplished when I saw you at work the other day I… I hope you don’t think this is too weird but I looked up some of your other work.”

“Y-you did?” Spencer asked, his stomach dropped and he felt like he might throw up.

“Yeah, it’s really cool, there was this video of you reciting the periodic table from memory and all the compounds and chemical equations for them, it was really-”

“Okay I get it. I’ll… I’ll just go now.” Spencer ducked his head down and tried not to let his eyes well up with tears.

“Woah woah woah, where are you going pretty boy?” Derek grabbed his hand to stop him from vanishing.

“I’m sorry I lied to you, I really am I just… I didn’t want you to  _ see. _ ” Spencer mumbled, pulling his hand away and taking a shy step back. He was closing himself off and curling in on himself. “I understand though.”

“You understand what?” Derek asked.

“Why you don’t wanna go out with me anymore… although I wish you had told me the minute you realized I was lying… it’s mean to lead someone on. But I get it.” Spencer tried to walk away again but Derek ran around to stand in front of him.

“Spencer stop! I don’t wanna not go out with you.” he promised. “Why would you even think that? You’re incredible! You can do all that? Shit, if I could do that I’d be bragging to every single person who hit on me… I just wanna know  _ why  _ you lied.” Morgan confessed. Spencer stared at him for a long time, trying to search his face for any ounce of dishonesty or cruelty. But he found none, so he answered.

“Because… I’m a freak.” Spencer said it like he was stating the obvious. “It’s really easy to say you’d like to have a brain like mine but… people are scared of me.” He whispered the last part and Derek’s hands dropped back to his sides. “I work for the government because I’m not allowed to work anywhere else… I’m a threat to national security, I went to school in a bunker for a year! I just… I like you so much, Derek… I wanted to feel ordinary for once.” He looked down in shame, before feeling a hand cup his chin and lift his face, Spencer stared at Derek’s loving face before the older man leaned in and gave him a light kiss.

“You, Spencer Reid, are not ordinary.” He confessed. “And there is nobody else I’d wanna be with right now.” He swore, and for the first time, Spencer believed him. “Come on, I still wanna buy you dinner, and I want to hear you tell me all about the  _ real  _ reason you joined NASA.” He put his arm around Spencer’s thin shoulders and the younger man laughed.

“Well that wasn’t a total lie… I do think stars are pretty.”


	6. What happened after the overused troupe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> @scarletnight89 asked me to make a continuation off of chapter 2! So here it is! I hope you like it, let me know what you think!

Spencer sat in his office chair and stared at Derek from across the bullpen. It’d been a week since Derek had kissed him and told the genius to “figure it out”, and Spencer hadn’t been able to. Of course he’d tried to come to conclusions, written it out in his notebooks and tried to find a suitable theory, but nothing seemed to work. Spencer groaned and put his head down on his desk. Why couldn’t these things just follow an equation? Then he’d answer it and give Derek whatever Y equalled and they’d be happy.

“Doing okay there, Spencer?” JJ asked, putting a hand on the back of his chair. Spencer lifted his head up and made a half heart mumble. “Bad day?”

“Confusing week.” Spencer corrected. JJ nodded and took a seat next to him, patting the boy on his curly head. “JJ, what do I do?” He asked, even more confused than he’d ever been in his life. “He told me to figure it out but… then he didn’t say anything I… was it all some sort of joke?” Spencer asked, eyes growing big.   
“I think you know what it meant, and I think you know what you have to do now.” JJ explained. Spencer scrunched his face up and held his stomach like he was going to be sick.

“I don’t think I can.” He mumbled. But the woman just gave him a pat on the shoulder and a gentle nudge. Spencer swallowed hard and stood up, walking on wobbly knees over to Derek’s desk.

“Hey, pretty boy.” Derek greeted with a dashing smile that made Spencer’s heart pound.

“H-Hey Morgan.” He spoke shakily. “C-Can we m-maybe get a c-cup of c-coffee?” Spencer stammered, his face flushing at how pathetic he sounded. But he really couldn’t help it, he didn’t know what else to do, he was so confused. Derek looked at him sympathetically and got up.

“Sure pretty boy, my treat.” He assured. Spencer gave a weak smile and let himself be led to the elevator. “Are you alright, Spencer?” Derek asked, and just him saying his name made Spencer shake. He couldn’t force out the words so he only nodded, and Derek sighed. “Hey, look at me.” He urged, taking Spencer’s hand. “I didn’t mean to cause you this much confusion, this isn’t something you should be so upset over.” Morgan explained.

“I can’t help it… Derek, I’m so confused.” Spencer looked up at him. “You told me to figure it out and I tried analyzing the situation from every angle but I can’t! My apartment is covered in notes and charts I feel like I’m going crazy but I just can’t-”   
“Reid.” Derek cut him off with a gentle tone. “You made charts to analyze a kiss?” He asked, and Spencer could only nod. “Spencer, all I want you to know is that I like you, and I think you know that.” Morgan told him.

“But what if you change your mind!?” Spencer cried, taking a big step backwards. Morgan felt his heart clench. So this is what Spencer was so scared of. “How can you say that? How can you promise you like me and-and then I’ll believe you and wake up one morning and you’ll be gone and I can’t handle that, Morgan!” Reid exclaimed, the elevator doors opened and he darted out, quickly chased by Derek.

“Spencer… Spencer wait!” Derek called, taking his hand. Reid just stayed facing away from him. “Spencer, I can’t promise you everything will work out, but I can promise you that I’m telling you the truth. I love you Spencer.” Morgan promised.

“How can you?” Spencer asked in a tiny voice. He wrapped his arms around himself and Derek stepped forward. Morgan wrapped the little genius up in a hug and held him as close as he could, letting Spencer grab his shirt and burrow into his chest.

“I know how confusing this must be for you.” Derek started, kissing the top of his head. “You’ve never done this before, and I don’t think you think of yourself as wonderful as you really are. So you’re questioning all of this. But just know that I love you, Spencer, I have for a very long time and I’m willing to try  _ anything  _ to make this work. Please, let me show you how loved you are.” Morgan begged him. Spencer gulped and tightened his grip on Derek’s shirt, before letting go and pulling away.

“Okay.” He agreed so quietly Morgan didn’t think he’d heard him. But Spencer gave Derek a nervous smile and tucked a curl behind his ear. “Show me.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Derek straightened out his coat before knocking on the door to Spencer’s apartment. He heard shuffling, a crash and a quiet curse on the other side of the door. Morgan laughed at the thought of Spencer stumbling over his own two feet to answer the door. Reid opened the door and had a look of dread and anxiety.

“Derek! Y-you’re early!” He looked around for some sort of diversion, but came up short. “I-I-I’m not even ready I haven’t decided on which cardigan to wear they all make me look gangly I-”

“Spencer, Spencer, it’s okay.” Derek smiled and put his hand on Spencer’s shoulder. “You look perfect.” He spoke honestly, looking at the disheveled doctor with his hair a mess and mismatched socks. Spencer blushed at the sincerity in Morgan’s tone and looked away.

“I thought we agreed on having dinner at seven?” Spencer asked, still confused as to why Derek showed up so early.

“We are, that’s why I’m here now. I need time to cook it, don’t I?” Morgan asked, making his way across the hall and setting down the few bags of groceries he had. Spencer gave him a puzzled look. “I thought it must have been a while since you’ve had a nice home cooked meal, and I’ve got some great recipes.” Morgan assured.

“Oh, that sounds wonderful.” Spencer gave another nervous smile and began fumbling with the grocery bag. “Here let me-”

“No, no, pretty boy, I’m cooking for you.” Derek told him. Spencer made a sort of noise that sounded like a cross between a “huh” and an “eep”. And it took all Morgan had to not burst out laughing at that. “Sit.” Morgan ushered Spencer to the chair next to him and began to prepare the food.

“At least let me go change into something a little less frumpy.” Spencer tried, tugging at his house sweater. It was way too big for him and had holes in the pockets, so he never wore it out. But it was so warm and comfy, he couldn’t stand to get rid of it, so Spencer would keep it to curl up on his couch.

“You look perfect.” Derek repeated, but this time with a bit more of a serious tone. “Now just sit down, relax for a little while, and let me make you a nice meal.” Derek told him, petting the genius’ head. Spencer beamed, practically purring under Derek’s touch.

“Let me set the table.” Spencer insisted, opening his eyes when Derek took his hand away. Derek nodded, but only because he didn’t know where Spencer kept his plates and cutlery. “So, what are you making me?” Spencer asked, giving Derek a big grin that made the older man’s heart swell.

“Chicken stir fry. I know you like spicy food.” Derek responded and Spencer smiled.

“I do.” He put out two sets of plates and silverware before messing with the arrangements and trying to make it look pretty. “So what do you think?” Spencer asked, lighting a candle and taking a step back. Derek wrapped his arms around Spencer’s waist and hugged him tight, looking down at his curly head and big brown eyes.

“Amazing.” He promised, giving Reid a kiss on the head. Spencer blushed deeply and wiggled himself around in Derek’s arms so he could face the older man.

“Derek… tomorrow, after this I mean… are we…?” He trained off and looked away from Derek’s eyes.

“Baby boy, I’ve waited for ages for the chance to have a date with you. So if I succeed in making this night the most special and romantic time of your life, and I’m lucky enough that you want to see me again, you bet your ass I’m gonna take that chance.” Morgan grinned when this statement made Spencer start giggling slightly, but it broke off into a full laugh.

“Well… I say you’ve got a pretty good chance of getting a second date.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment!


	7. Sick day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> @midnight requested a drabble where spencer gets sick a work and derek taks care of him, i hope you enjoy, sorry i've been gone for a while but i'm getting back into regular updates! please comment it really inspires me to write more!! also if you wanna drop a request I'd love it!!!!! thanks all!!!

“Spencer? Spencer?  _ Spencer? _ ” Spencer’s head shot up and he shook himself out of his daze. Derek was standing behind him with a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“Huh? Oh s-sorry I zoned out.” Spencer rubbed his eyes and then continued scribbling away on a case file. He kept writing until he noticed Derek was still behind him. “What’s up? You need a hand with some paperwork?” Reid asked, looking up at him. The look on his face made Derek want to cringe. He was far too pale, and his eyes were big and glassy with sickly looking purplish dark rings under them.

“I think you’ve got enough work of your own there, pretty boy.” Derek noted. Spencer had been working slow all day, and it was starting to be a concern. Reid grumbled and pulled another case file off of the stack.

“I know, I’ll tell Hotch I’m staying late to get them done, don’t worry.” Spencer assured, ducking his head back down.

“Spence, baby.” Derek said gently, and Spencer glanced up. They never used pet names like that at work, and Derek only let them slip when something was actually wrong. “You look awful, maybe you should let me take you home.” He encouraged. But Spencer shook his head.

“No, no, I’m okay, just a little tired.” He assured, yawning. “I have a lot to do here, still.” Reid explained. But Morgan just gently reached over and took the stack of papers out of his hand. “Derek I need-”

“What you need is to let me take you home and get some rest. You were here till 4am last night and then you showed up again at 8. Come on, Spencer, I think you’re coming down with something.” Morgan stressed, feeling Spencer’s cold hands. “Jesus, how long have you been shaking like this?” He asked, trying to steady Reid’s tiny frame.

“It’s just a little cold, is all, Derek I appreciate your concern but please let me finish my work.” Spencer insisted, brushing Derek’s hand from his shoulder.

“Spence I-”

“I know you care about me, but we promised not to treat each other differently than the rest of the team when we started dating. And then  _ you  _ promised not to treat me like I’m made out of glass or a baby, I can make my own choices. Me feeling under the weather for a few days won’t kill me.” Reid gave him a sideways smile and shooed him away. “You have case files too.”

Derek sighed and walked off, it was no use arguing with Reid when it came to his well being. The kid would work himself to death if given the chance. So Morgan just went to the kitchen and made a hot cup of coffee with way too much sugar and gave it to Spencer, hopefully to warm the poor thing up a bit, then went back to his work.

But Morgan could only work for so long while trying to ignore his lover trembling a few desks away. But Spencer seemed unbothered, scribbling away happily. Finally Morgan rolled his eyes and collected the completed case files, passing Spencer’s desk. “Giving the finished ones to the outbox, you done with any?” Derek asked, and Spencer handed him a much larger stack. The older man smiled, even when he was dead on his feet his baby boy was still the best. Derek gathered the files and knocked on Hotch’s office door.

“Come on in.” He called. When Hotch saw Derek he shook his head. “We should really put the outbox in the bullpen, you’re all in and out every ten minutes.” He muttered, and Derek just gave a half smile.

“What you’re not thrilled to see me?” he asked, dropping in the files and taking the chance to snoop around the rest of Hotch’s office.

“Is Spencer still out there?” Hotch asked. And Derek nodded. “I told him to go home, he looks terrible. Did you try talking sense into him?” Hotch looked at Morgan with a ghost of a smile, he thought it was just so funny when the little genius talked back to “mr. Big-bad-FBI-agent”. Anyone looking at them would think derek could get Spencer to do anything he wanted, but the truth was Reid had Morgan whipped. Derek just shook his head.

“I tried too, you know the kid, if there’s work to be done, he’s the one doing it.” Morgan laughed a little. “He was so freaked out about being behind on those case files I don’t think I’ll be able to get him out of here until well after dark.”

“He was behind on the case files because he was called to do a geographical profile for another team’s case. It was a cold case until Spencer put together pieces from fifteen years ago.” Hotch reminded. Derek kept looking at the outbox, mostly so Hotch wouldn’t see his smile. He felt such overwhelming pride at everything Spencer did, and sometimes it took everything in his power not to pick the genius up, put him on a pedestal, and yell at everybody to look at him.

“I’ll see what I can do.” Morgan told him, leaving the office and heading back to Spencer’s desk. “Come on pretty boy, it’s time to go.” Derek insisted, throwing his leather jacket over his shoulder.

“I told you I’m staying late to catch up on this.” Spencer repeated, stifling a yawn. But Derek shook his head.

“No, I should have made you go home a long time ago.” Morgan chastised himself. “You’re sick as hell, Reid, don’t make me drag you out of here.” He warned. Spencer rolled his head back to look at his boyfriend, he tried to look threatening, but stopped when he saw it was already dark outside. He had last gotten up at noon to get more coffee and then dove back into work. “Come on, baby boy, let me take you home and you can get into bed.” Derek tempted.

“I guess I have been here a while.” Spencer finally cracked. The idea of his bed sounded so good right now and all he wanted to do was curl up against Derek.

Morgan smiled at his little victory and took Spencer’s hand, helping him stand on wobbly legs. The two made their way into the parking garage and Derek put his heavy leather jacket around Spencer’s lithe frame. “You’re still shaking.”

“S’cold.” He responded. Derek helped Spencer into his truck, and by the time they reached home, Reid was already asleep in the passenger’s seat. Morgan got up and walked around, opening the door and petting Spencer’s hair.

“Hey, baby boy, we’re home.” Derek whispered. But Spencer made a whimpering noise and shook his head, burying it in the car seat. Morgan laughed. “Come on, Spence, you can sleep inside.” He offered, but Spencer made a little noise and didn’t move. Derek leaned forward and wrapped his arms around the little genius, picking him up and bringing him inside.

“No… please just let me sleep.” Spencer mumbled.

“That’s what I’m doing, baby.” Morgan promised. He brought Spencer inside and set him down on the bed. Derek made quick work of getting the genius ready for bed, but Spencer woke himself up enough to pull his pajama shirt on. “I’m going to make you some tea and get you some cold medicine, you brush your teeth.” Morgan told him, and Spencer found he didn’t have the energy to nod.

When Morgan got back Spencer was all ready for bed, curled in the middle of the duvet, not even making it under the blankets. “Come on, pretty boy.” Derek sat him up and situated the boy against him, handing him the cold medicine.

“S’nyquil?” Spencer mumbled, and Derek nodded, watching the boy take it and wash it down with the tea. Derek knew there were only a few types of medicines Spencer would take.

“Drink that before you fall asleep, it’ll make your head and throat feel better.” Derek encouraged, and Spencer nodded taking a few more big sips before putting the tea aside. He turned over and snuggled into Derek’s side, gripping his t-shirt.

“Thanks for making me come home.” Spencer whispered. “Sorry for being so difficult… I guess I still need to work on my ‘overachiever’ complex.” He mumbled, making Derek laugh.

“Well it was expected of you. I wish you got to have more fun as a kid.” Morgan told him, and Spencer laughed.

“I had fun, I just didn’t have  _ your _ idea of fun.” Reid explained, and Derek laughed.

“Okay, okay, go to bed now baby, the medicine is gonna start making you loopy.” Derek told him, taking the tea from him and kissing his face until Spencer closed his eyes.

“Hm…  _ you’re  _ loopy.” Spencer countered, yawning and beginning to doze off. Morgan laughed and stroked his hair, petting his little genius until he felt him go limp in his arms, fast asleep.

When Spencer woke up he felt a million times worse. His throat was sore and swollen and his head was pounding. He sat up in bed a grabbed a tissue from the night table, attempting to blow his nose, but it was so stuffed up it didn’t help. Spencer was about to look for Derek, but turning his head made him realize how much everything ached, and his head swam at the sudden movement.

“Hey baby, just relax, okay?” Derek appeared seemingly out of nowhere and gave him a mug of hot chicken soup.

“Thanks, Der.” Spencer yawned and took a bite with the spoon, humming contentedly at the way it soothed his throat.

“You can take more medicine in an hour, you weren’t asleep for long.” Morgan told him.

“I’m so tired… I would still be asleep but my throat hurts too much.” Spencer rubbed his eye and took another bite of the soup. “This soup is so good.” He mumbled, making Derek laugh a bit.

“You want me to go to the pharmacy? Get anything for you?” He asked, but Spencer shook his head.

“No, this is good… will you sit with me?” Spencer asked, sniffing.

“You’re gonna get me sick… but how can I say no to that?” Derek smiled and pulled Spencer in his arms, helping him finish his soup and then lulling him to sleep.


	8. SCP AU Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So I've been getting really into this online community called SCP, it's super fun and spooky it's this underground government agency that contains anomalies and other worldly entities! It's super cool and fun and I thought it'd be fun to make an AU based on it! Spencer in contained because (not gonna tell you yet you have to read to find out) but escapes! I hope you like it, please comment and let me know what you think and if you want a part two! Also if you guys want more to this story let me know if you think I should post it separately from the drabble series! Let me know what you think, I worked really hard on this one, sorry if it starts a bit slow, if you guys want additional parts it will be picking up!

“Mama, I’ll be there as soon as I can… I know I’m on my way.” Derek laughed, walking down a city street with a bag of groceries on his arm. His umbrella shielded him from the rain which was beginning to look like snow. Garcia was on the phone talking about the movie she had been dying to watch with him.

“Don’t keep me waiting, it’s not often we get time off.” Her voice echoed out of the phone.

“I’m just glad…” Derek trailed off when he saw a group of three people standing in a circle, they seemed to be arguing with each other. Normally he’d ignore something like this, but he heard one of them shouting, just loud enough to hear his angry tone, but not enough to make out what he was saying. “I’ll call you back in a second. Garcia.” Morgan told her, and hung up before she could ask.

“Uh, hey? Is everything okay over here?” Derek asked, none of the men had an umbrella in the rain and they all had a matching white jacket. As soon as they heard Derek’s voice one of them turned around quickly and gave him the biggest and most polite smile he could. He had a name plate on his lab coat with the name ‘MILLER’ in all caps.

“Oh goodness, no. So sorry to concern you.” The man began, something about his disposition seemed off. “We’re looking for our… friend.” He decided on the wording. “And we seemed to have misunderstood where we planned to meet up, is all.”

“Oh…” Derek wasn’t what else he could say. It sounded innocent enough, but they were shouting at ten at night in the pouring rain and snow. “Well… just making sure. Take care, man.” He gave a short wave and made his way down the road again, this time a little quicker. Halfway down he glanced over his shoulder and saw the men, just staring at him, making sure he left. Morgan kept himself from visibly reacting and kept on to Penelope’s house.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So they had late night plans, like us, I don’t get the big deal.” penelope was wrestling with her DVD player as Derek sat on the couch. He’d opened a beer but didn’t really feel like drinking.

“It was just weird, Garcia. They were all standing in the rain like they had just rushed out there and they were in these matching jackets… and that one guy was yelling at the other two but then he seemed so polite to me… too polite, it was creepy.” Morgan insisted.

“Maybe they're a cult and that’s their charismatic leader.” She offered. And Morgan rolled his eyes.

“I’m serious.” He insisted.

“So am I.” Penelope countered.

“They said they were looking for their friend.” Morgan recalled, thinking carefully. “I don’t know… something about it really seemed off. Would you wander the streets in the freezing rain looking for a friend? Why wouldn’t they just call him?”   
“So they’re weirdos, who cares?” She asked, making Derek laugh a bit and shrug, opting to ignore it for now.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“It stopped raining, but it looks like you were right, we’re getting a lot of snow.” Garcia glanced out the window. “You sure you wanna walk home?” She asked.

“I’m literally right up the street.” Morgan reminded, able to see his apartment from Penelope’s complex. “I’d stay the night but I didn’t put out any extra food for the night for Clooney.”

“Okay, I know it’s a short walk but it’s snowy, text me when you get home.” Garcia insisted, giving him a hug and sending him on his way. Derek waved from the street and began walking, he was lucky he decided to leave before the snow really started sticking. It seemed like in less than an hour they’d get a lot of cumulation. Morgan stopped walking when he made it to the same spot he’d seen the group of men earlier, glancing down at footprints barely showing in the snow. But it had only started snowing an hour ago, how long were those men there? Morgan shook his head and kept walking, making it to his apartment complex. He began fiddling with the key to the main door when he heard clambering in the alleyway next to him. Derek ignored it, assuming it was a stray or raccoon, like the usual city dwellers.

But Morgan froze when he heard a small “ouch” come from the alleyway. He whipped around and gasped when he saw a pair of eyes duck away out of sight. “Hello?” Derek called softly. He heard a quiet gasp and them shuffling all the way to the back of the alley. Definitely not a raccoon. “Is somebody back there? Are you alright?” he asked. Morgan messed with his phone for a second to turn on the flashlight, and aimed it up.

When he did the figure in the beam of light panicked. It was a man, he couldn’t have been older than 22, and he was in dirty, torn up blue hospital scrubs with a patch on it, and he had no shoes on. His appearance was awful, the kid was clearly freezing, his brown hair was dirty and matted up, and it looked like a chunk had been cut off with a knife in one place. Other than that is was too long. He was covered in dirt and what looked like spots of blood, and his eyes were huge and terrified.

“P-p-please… N-n-no please…” he managed to force out, and then continued to try and climb the brick wall to get away. He panicked more when it proved to be unsuccessful, his fingers tearing and bleeding as he clawed at the brick.

“Hey! Hey stop that! You’re hurting yourself!” Derek called, and began running over to him. The dirty mystery kid tried to flatten himself against the wall as Derek came closer. “It… it’s okay, I’m not gonna hurt you.” Morgan promised, trying to get close enough to read the patch on his shirt. Thinking the poor thing was some sort of escaped mental patient. But all the patch said was ‘SCP-118’ with a small symbol he’d never seen before. “Are you lost?” Derek asked, and he shook his head ‘no’. Margan nodded, at least now he knew he could understand him. “Are… are you cold?” Morgan tried, and the boy didn’t respond, but his shivering was clear. “Come on, it’s so cold out here, you don’t even have shoes. Come with me, I’ll take you inside, you can get cleaned up and you’ll be warm. That’s gotta sound nice.” Morgan nearly begged, worried for the younger man’s well being.

“I… don’t… don’t take me back.” He forced out.

“We won’t go anywhere you don’t want to, just come on, please. You’ll freeze to death out here.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“There, feel better?” Derek asked, giving the younger man a fluffy blanket. His hair was wet from the shower and he looked a lot better without blood and dirt covering his face. Derek took this time to examine him closely, he had big hazel eyes with dark rings around them. He was pale too, like he’d never been outside before. And he had bruises all up and down his arms. “Do you have a name?” Morgan asked. This made the younger man freeze and look up at him cautiously.

“Trick?” He mumbled.

“Your name is trick?” Morgan asked. And then it clicked. “Oh! Trick. No I’m not tricking you, I wanna know your name.” He continued. The kid thought for a second and then pointed to the patch on his shirt and shook his head. “So that’s  _ not  _ your name?” Derek asked, and the kid nodded. Then without warning he ripped the patch off and threw it across the room, harshly, like it was hurting him. “That’s okay! You don’t have to wear it. Here, how about I get you some warm clothes that aren’t all ripped and dirty?” Morgan asked. Even after the bath he was still freezing. Morgan left for a minute and then came back with sweatpants, warm socks, a t-shirt and a big sweater. “Can you get dressed by yourself?” Derek asked, and he nodded, before trying to take his shirt off. “Woah, not out here.” Morgan quickly put his hands over the younger man’s. He tilted his head confused and Derek shook his head. “You can’t just get naked in… look just go in there.” He pointed to his bedroom and the kid started off without any questions.

As soon as he was gone Derek sighed and slumped into his chair, what the hell was going on. He rubbed his eyes until he heard soft footsteps padding out of his room. Derek sat up when he saw the mystery kid come back into the living room. “Everything oka-”

“Spencer.” He cut him off.

“What?” Morgan asked.

“Spencer.” He repeated.

“Is… is that your name?” Derek asked. And Spencer nodded. Morgan smiled at the progress. “Nice to meet you Spencer.” he smiled and put his hand out, but Spencer shrieked and leapt back, falling to the floor and backing away from Derek’s outstretched hand. “I’m sorry! I-I didn’t mean to scare you, it’s okay.” He soothed. And Spencer walked forward slowly. Derek moved his hand away but Spencer reached forward and took it. He just stared at his hand for a long time.

“Where are you from?” Derek asked gently. Spencer kept looking at his hand, he was now lining it up with his own and looking at the differences.

“Below.” Was all Spencer said. Derek looked at the dark circles under his eyes and the way his lithe body shook.

“Come on,” Morgan said, putting a blanket over his shoulders. “You should get some sleep.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You just found him in an alley?” Penelope asked, looking down at the sleeping figure on the couch.

“Something is way off about him. He wouldn’t say his name and he was all alone… he was in these weird clothes and they had this- wait I still have it.” Derek turned around and picked up the patch where Spencer had thrown it. “Does this mean anything to you?” He asked. Penelope took the patch and looked at it confused.

“I wish it did.” She admitted. Derek sighed and sat down in the easy chair across from the couch, looking at Spencer sleep. “And he just passed out after all of that?” Garcia asked, and Derek nodded.

“He didn’t seem confused by it. I don’t even know where he's from or-” Derek stopped when Spencer began to stir. Garcia took a step back but still watched close as his big hazel eyes opened, and blinked a few times, it seemed like he was processing what was around him. “Hey buddy.” Derek greeted. “Glad you’re awake, how are you feeling?” He asked. Spencer looked like he was about to answer, but all the sudden tensed up when his eyes landed on Garcia. “Its okay! She’s a friend.” Morgan assured.

“She’s not here to bring me back?” Spencer asked in a whisper. Garcia gave Derek a confused look, and Derek shook his head at the younger man.

“No, we don’t even know where you’re from.” Morgan chuckled a bit.

“Below.” Spencer repeated. And Garcia looked even more puzzled than before. Spencer sat up on the couch and studied Garcia closely, before tilting his head from side to side, like he was trying to observe her from each angle. “Yes.” Was all he said, and his shoulders visibly relaxed.

“Garcia’s really nice, she’s my best friend.” Derek agreed. “She works in Social Services, and helps find people who live in places that are bad or dangerous.” He explained. Garcia sat down next to Spencer and put on the voice she used for frightened children.

“You wanna tell me a little bit about where you’re from? Derek said you didn’t wanna go back, is that cause somebody hurt you?” She asked. And Spencer nodded. “Is that the person who gave you those bruises?” She asked, pointing to his arms. They looked awful, like not only was he hit, but injected with something over and over again. And there were slices on his arms, but done neatly, like they were charted. And they weren’t in a place that Spencer could have done it to himself, so it was obvious somebody else was the cause.

Spencer just looked at her, like he was unsure of what to say. Finally he spoke up. “Gala says they’re side effects.” He told her.

“Who’s Gala?” Morgan asked.

“In charge.” Spencer responded. “Like the rest of the white coats… in charge.” Once he said this Morgan froze.

“Garcia, what if this has to do with those guys I saw last night?” He asked, but the minute he said it he knew he shouldn’t have, because Spencer panicked. He leapt from the couch and put his hands out, backing into a corner.

“They’re here!? Here?! No! They’re here to find me! To bring me back!” He started screaming and Morgan hushed him.

“Shh, hey relax, nobody’s gonna be able to get to you here.” He promised. “Does… does the name Miller mean anything to you?” Morgan asked, recalling the name plate he’d seen on the man’s white coat. The second the name left his mouth Spencer started shaking. “Oh! Oh shit, I didn’t mean to scare you I-” Derek cut off with a gasp when Spencer lurched forward, his shaking intensifying. And then he saw his eyes.

Gone were the pretty hazel eyes, instead they were two round orbs of solid bright blue. “He’s a bad man.” Spencer spoke. And blue goo began dripping from his eyes. “HE’S BAD MAN!” Spencer screamed, he sized up and his hair began floating, like there was no gravity in the room. “He makes me do things… equations… I build things… he says I’m the smartest… I’m the most dangerous… I can help him… he makes me hurt people…” Spencer’s voice was eerily calm and quiet. “I remember everything… things I wasn’t there for…”

Garcia backed into the corner of the room and Derek was about to follow. But then Spencer looked up at him, the two blue orbs still lighting up, leaking that goo. But then Derek realized, those were his tears.

“I didn’t want to hurt anyone.” He spoke, his voice cracking pitifully. Derek walked towards him, Garcia whispering for him to be careful.

“I know, I know you didn’t.” He started.

“I’m not  _ bad _ . Not bad!” Spencer insisted.

“I know you aren’t, it’s not your fault… we’re gonna help you.” he promised, and put a hand on his shoulder, watching the blue in his eyes fade away and the hazel reappear. After it was over Spencer unintentionally slumped against him, passing out. Like he was drained and exhausted.

“Morgan… what  _ is he? _ ” Penelope asked, stepping forward. Morgan just stared at the boy in his arms.

“I… I have no idea.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like it please comment and tell me, I don't really keep writing if I feel like nobody is reading it lol, not just about this story but the other chapters too.  
Give me requests and feedback, anything really!


	9. a really overwhelming day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i had a really bad day, i was so burnt out i had an absolute meltdown. so i wrote this as a self indulgent fic, only i didn't have anyone to comfort me like that but i sort of wish i did haha. sorry if this is super ooc ive been having a tough time lately and sort of self indulged. sorry, but if you like me let me know! ill post more soon!!

‘Shhh, shhh, quiet. Not now, not now, not now.’ Spencer dug his feet into the ground to stop himself from rocking back and forth and balled his hands into fists. Resisting the urge to wave or flap them, he just had to  _ move,  _ but then everybody would stare and he already felt like he was under a microscope. Spencer felt his throat close up and he tried very hard to breath, lifting his head a bit from its bowed position. But that proved to be too much, because the lights were too bright and now he was looking at the harsh sun come through the windows and  _ it had to stop. _

Spencer flinched and bit his lip to stop himself from whining. He tasted blood and felt his stomach churn, he hadn’t meant to hurt himself. He never means to hurt himself but now he has and Derek will worry and he’s-

“Pretty boy? You okay?” A soft came from behind him, but the sound made Spencer want to throw up and cry. There was too much input he couldn’t take it anymore and now somebody was talking to him? But the mystery person seemed to understand, because they put their hands on Spencer’s shoulders and started guiding him away. Spencer didn’t want to be touched right now, and part of him wanted to rip away and run as fast as he could. But he knew he couldn’t get out of the too loud and too bright and too busy office by himself, so he let himself get guided along, trying hard not to flinch at the contact that came with it.

Pretty soon Spencer found himself being sat down and the hands left. “Spencer, baby boy? Can you hear me right now?” And that made Spencer’s head spring up, because he knew that voice, and he knew the only person who called him that name.

“D-Derek?” Spencer choked out, wiping his eyes and sniffling. When had he started crying? And when had he gotten into Derek’s car?

“It’s me, baby boy. It’s okay, you’re okay.” Derek started, reaching over to wipe a tear from Spencer’s cheek.

“C-car?” Was the only thing Spencer could ask, and Derek tried not to grimace. It was so worrying for him when Spencer went non verbal, he couldn’t tell Derek if he wasn’t okay or what he needed. But Spencer didn’t need him to panic right now, he needed him to be strong for him.

“Yeah we’re in my car, baby, you didn’t even notice I brought you out of the office, huh?” he forced a little friendly smile, using a tone that radiated ‘don’t be silly’ to him. “I’m gonna bring you home, okay? We’re done for the day, no more case files, no more work.” Derek assured, and pulled out of the parking spot. Spencer whimpered at the movement of the car and Derek hushed him, reaching over to touch his hair, massaging his scalp the way he knew Spencer liked. “You did so well on that case, baby. I’m so proud of you.” Morgan gave him reassurances and praises through the drive home, until he felt Spencer relax a little bit.

Derek noticed Spencer’s eyes cast up, he looked like he wanted to say something, but Morgan knew he wouldn’t be able to. “Don’t worry about it, honey.” He promised. They pulled into the driveway of Derek’s refurbished home. He’d recently moved from his apartment with the hopes that when he asked Spencer to move in with him, he would say yes.

Spencer undid his seatbelt and followed Derek into the house. But he then held still, now what? His brain was so fried, he wasn’t sure he could think properly. “Spencer?” Derek asked gently.

“Approximently 68% of serial killers experience abuse as a child.” Spencer found himself saying. And Derek nodded.

“Mm-hm, you told us that yesterday, and it helped us figure out what we needed to solve the case.” he started, and Spencer kept looking at him with those tired eyes.

“Approximently 43% of that abuse is physical.” Spencer added. “Have Garcia run local hospital records, see if there’s any recurring instance that got social services involved.” He continued, and Morgan recognized that sentence as what Hotch had said the day before. He knew what Spencer was trying to tell him.

_ I can’t speak for myself, I’m confused, I’m overwhelmed, please help me. _

“How about you go put on your pajamas and then sit on the couch, and I’ll get you something to eat.” Morgan told him, and Spencer robotically made his way to Derek’s bedroom, where he already had his own drawer.

Derek made quick work of making a bowl of macaroni and cheese. It was Spencer’s favorite food when he got this way. He used to make it all the time as a kid, because he always had to feed himself. He said it was a good texture too, and he liked yellow.

When he turned around Spencer was looking at him with big eyes. Morgan smiled and handed him the hot bowl, letting Spencer sit on the couch and put a heavy arm around his shoulder. Spencer liked the pressure.

“Do you want your weighted blanket?” Derek asked, and Spencer stayed still and quiet. Too overwhelmed, he didn’t like questions. So Morgan just reached over to the folded blanket under the coffee table and put it on Reid’s lap.

A while passed like that, just Spencer eating his mac and cheese slowly, with a heavy arm around his shoulders. And pretty soon Derek noticed the tension leave his pretty boy, little by little. “Are you feeling better?” Morgan asked.

“Are you feeling better.” Spencer repeated, and this made Morgan smile. Spencer knew it worried him when he was non verbal, so when he got like that he tried really really hard to use other people’s words. Just to put him at ease.

“You don’t have to force yourself to talk if you don’t feel ready. Just take some time to find your words.” He promised. And Derek felt relief when Spencer nodded, because that meant he could hear him. He finished his mac and cheese and put it aside, curling his feet onto the couch and putting himself under his weighted blanket. He rested his head on Derek’s lap and he ran his fingers through Spencer’s curly hair.

“You know, pretty boy, we’ve been dating for a while.” Morgan started.

“One year, two months, fourteen days, seven hours, and forty-two minutes.” Spencer spoke up, and Morgan grinned.

“You found your words?” He asked, and Spencer shook his head. “Just numbers then?” he asked, and Spencer nodded. Numbers were easier for him sometimes. “Well I brought it up because…” Morgan stopped, he couldn't ask Spencer to move in with him like this, how would he even answer? “I love you so much, pretty boy.” Derek decided on saying.

“One year, two months, fourteen days, seven hours, and forty-two minutes.” Spencer repeated, earning a laugh from Derek. But that obviously was the wrong thing, cause Spencer seemed to get upset.

“What’s wrong, baby?” He tried, and Spencer rolled over onto his back, keeping his head on Derek’s lap and staring up at him with narrowed eyes. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, obviously trying to find his words, until a statistic popped into his head.

“56% of couples move in together after a year.” Spencer told him.

“What are you saying, babe?” Morgan asked, and Spencer hummed.

“56% of couples move in together after a year…. One year, two months, fourteen days, seven hours, and forty-two minutes.” He repeated for a third time, and Morgan felt his smile grow so big it hurt his cheeks.

“Are you… Spence are you saying you wanna move in together?!” Morgan gently sat Spencer up and the genius nodded. Morgan took him by the shoulders and pulled him in for a passionate kiss that Spencer returned, wrapping his arms around his neck and sighing. “Spencer you have no idea how happy you made me!” Derek told him as soon as they separated. “I was gonna ask you but you had such a rough day I was gonna wait.”

Spencer held himself close to Derek and closed his eyes. “We’ve been working hard, let’s go to bed, angel.” Morgan decided, and Spencer yawned and nodded. “We have a big day tomorrow.” he added, earning a confused look from Spencer. “We gotta start packing up your stuff from your apartment, you don’t wanna live here without all your books, do you?” Derek asked with a sly grin, making Spencer smile big and stifle a laugh, leaping forward for another hug.

Morgan brought him into the bedroom and the happy couple crawled into bed, cuddling up and falling asleep. And Derek could have sworn that right before he fell asleep, he heard a soft barely-spoken ‘I love you’.


	10. A Bad Date and A Good Start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure what to say about this chapter, but I love the idea of Spencer getting mixed up with somebody bad and then Derek comforts him. I don't know, comment if you have the time it always means the world to me!

“So when’s your boy getting here?” Derek looked up at his friend Bryan. He’d worked as a contractor in Quantico for a while now, and Derek convinced him to come out with him and his team to get a drink.

“My boy?” Derek asked, and Bryan nodded.

“Yeah that new kid on your team, the freaky genius or something.” Bryan started, waving his hand nonchalantly. “You’ve been going on about him for ages.” He added. And Derek shrugged, ever since the kid joined the BAU half a year earlier, something had just been drawing Derek to him. He kept telling himself he was impressed by Spencer’s brains and profiling abilities at such a young age. But he was starting to think Spencer was just  _ special. _

Derek’s thought cut off when he saw the lanky figure nearly tumble in the door. “There he is.” Morgan pointed. “Hey Pretty Boy.” He waved at Spencer, who was awkwardly making his way through the crowded bar. Reid smiled relieved when he saw his friend and stumbled over to the table, almost tripping on his own two feet and swinging his out-of-place messenger bag back and forth. “You gonna tear it up on the dance floor?” Derek asked. And Spencer gave a short laugh, shaking his head back and forth.

“N-no.” He assured, his face growing a bit red. “I still can’t believe you talked me into coming tonight.” Spencer laughed, tugging at the strap of his bag.

“And I can’t believe you brought that dorky satchel.” Morgan teased, grinning when Spencer’s face grew redder.

“I n-needed something to carry my things.” Reid dusted it off and fixed his shirt. He was the only conceivable person who would wear a sweater vest to a club. “W-where are the others?” He asked, and Derek smiled fondly. Spencer had come out of his shell little by little since he came to the BAU, but he still stalled at the beginning of his sentences in a way that Derek found endearing.

“Getting drinks or dancing, JJ and Garcia were asking where you were.” Morgan motioned to the two blonde women at the bar, and Spencer excitedly made his way over to his new friends.

“Well, now I see what the fuss is about.” Bryan spoke up, breaking Derek’s gaze from Reid.

“Huh?” Morgan asked, confused. And Bryan rolled his eyes.

“Well no wonder you’re always talking about him, he’s adorable, and a genius too?” Bryan asked. “You should lock that down.” He told his friend, and Morgan shook his head frantically.

“Oh no, no, no. It’s not like that.” Derek assured, and Bryan gave him a confused look. “Really, it’s not… he’s just a really a unique guy.” He assured, and Bryan nodded, stealing another glance at the lanky boy across the room. And part of that made Derek feel just  _ wrong. _

“Well if you’re hands off the new kid, mind if I try taking it for a spin?” He asked with a slimy smile. And if he hadn’t been Derek’s friend for years, he would have noticed and punched his lights out.

“You mean ask him out?” Morgan asked, and his friend nodded. “I don’t know man, you gotta be careful with him. I’ve known him less than a year and… you know he’s one of those kids who’s been abandoned a lot. He doesn’t think of himself as somebody special, so just treat him good, okay?” Morgan tried urging, but Bryan kept that gross smile that was making him more and more uneasy.

“I get it, he’s one of those guys with super low self esteem. They always put out right away, feel like they have to prove something.” And before Derek could call him on it Bryan was up and on his way over to Spencer.

_ Why do I care? Who cares if Spencer has a one night stand with Bryan. It won’t kill him.  _ Derek shook his head and shrugged.  _ You think of him as a kid brother and you wanna look out for him, that’s all it is. But it’s none of your business, Reid can handle it himself. _

Morgan looked up at Bryan, who was now handing Reid a drink. The genius blushed a dark red and ducked his head down, making the older man laugh. Derek shook his head and looked away, not his business. He shouldn’t care. He  _ doesn’t  _ care.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“It was so wonderful Garcia! He bought me a drink and listened to all of my statistics about prohibition and actually seemed interested!” Reid clapped his hands together and Garcia smiled lovingly.

“See? I told you, you just needed a little confidence. Getting drinks with your friends is a great way to come out of your shell.” She encouraged, and Spencer smiled really big behind his thick framed glasses. His missing contacts were proof he spent the night at somebody else’s house.

“I’m meeting him tomorrow night at this small fusion restaurant. It’s this off-the-grid place he said he wanted to show me!” Reid explained. Derek listened to the conversation from his desk and felt sick. He knew the place Reid was talking about and it was hardly a restaurant, Bryan said it was the best place to find an easy lay.

“I’m so excited, I was thinking about wearing my glasses cause the bar lights bother my contacts… but I don’t want him to think I’m too geeky.” Spencer started, playing with the frames on his face. “I could tell he didn’t like them this morning… I should get new ones.” He pondered. And Morgan shook his head, something about Reid’s willingness to change himself, even on such a small level, made Derek feel wrong.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next night Derek found himself at the same bar he’d went with the team two nights ago. He just couldn’t get the idea of Spencer being on a date out of his head. He was probably at that scummy bar right not with-

Wait,  _ Bryan? _

Morgan almost choked on his beer when he saw his friend across the room with a blonde woman. He had pulled her on his lap and they were laughing like they were quite drunk. Derek blinked a few times to confirm what he saw, before pushing himself up and walking across to confront Bryan. He was here with another girl? Directly after his date with Spencer?

“Bryan, dude what are you doing here?” Morgan asked, ignoring the woman on his lap. Bryan face lit up and he put his arm around the girl’s waist.

“Hey! Derek! Yo, get my boy a drink!” He called to the bartender, but Derek made a ‘no’ gesture and sat down.

“Bryan, aren’t you supposed to be meeting Spencer across town right now?” He asked. And Bryan laughed.

“Dude, I gotta thank you for letting me hit that, you were right about him. Perfect placeholder.” He remarked, turning his attention back to the blonde girl. However his past remark rightfully angered her, and at hearing he blew off another date to flirt with a stranger she huffed and marched back to her friend’s table.

“Wait… placeholder?” Derek felt his blood run cold and Bryan nodded.

“Yeah man, you didn’t think I’d give that walking encyclopedia the time of day, did you?” He laughed and nudged his buddy. “God he would ramble and wave his hands around, he looked ridiculous.”

“You told him you wanted to see him again, he was really happy.” Morgan ripped away and Bryan rolled his eyes.

“You didn’t think I’d be seen in public with that freak show? Besides, it turned out he didn’t put out as eagerly as I thought he would, it took more convincing than I’d usually bother with.” He seemed annoyed at this. “And then the twerp acted all clingy like some chick with daddy issues. He came to find me at that bar across town when I was trying to get it on with a red head.”

At hearing this Morgan went into full fury. He grabbed his asshole friend by the shoulders and slammed him against the wall, the bar going silent at the loud slam and resulting yells. “He didn’t follow you, you dick! You asked him out and he showed up! You don’t even remember why you went there?” He asked, and Bryan had the audacity to shrug. “You drunk ASSHOLE!” Morgan threw him down. “He saw you cheating on him?”

“Cheating? We weren’t even dating… since when do you do more than one night stands?” Bryan remarked, but Derek ignored him.

“Where is he now?” Morgan demanded.

“How should I know? He ran out crying after I told him to beat it.” Bryan gave Morgan an annoyed look and went back to scouting, finding a much older woman at the bar who looked like she’d lived there for about fifty years.

Derek stormed out and ran to his car, being fine to drive after half a beer, he didn’t feel like grabbing a drink anymore. He got in his car and sped away to Reid’s apartment complex that he’d only been once before.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spencer sniffled and wiped more tears from his eyes. He felt so incredibly  _ stupid. _ Stupid for trusting someody, stupid for putting himself out on a limb, stupid for ever thinking  _ anyone  _ good enough to be Derek’s friend could ever like somebody like him. This last thought made Spencer choke on another sob and put his head in his hands, his head was starting to hurt with the amount of water he lost through tears and the exhaustion crying brings.

He took his new thin framed glasses and threw them across the room, angry. He didn’t like them, they were too tight and didn’t sit right on his nose. But the lady at the optometrist said they were a popular style, and they looked good on him. He just thought Bryan might like him.

A knock on the door interrupted his sniffling and Spencer quickly wiped his eyes. When he peered through the peep hole he gasped and quickly wiped his eyes, not wanting his current crush to see him devastated over another guy.

_ God I’m so pathetic, crushes and crying over boys? I’m not in highschool… I skipped highschool anyway… _

Spencer shook himself out of his thoughts and opened the door. He tried to plaster on a smile, ready to lie about being okay and impress Derek by how adjusted he was. But the minute he opened the door Morgan gave him a warm, relieved smile and said “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

And that triggered the waterworks. Spencer immediately broke down and started crying into his hands. He got ready for Morgan to laugh at him, tell him how dumb he was for even  _ trying  _ to go on a date, what a nerdy, geeky little kid he was.

But instead he felt arms wrap around him and lead him inside. “Hey, hey, it’s okay, Bryan is a complete asshole, you don’t need him.”

“He told me he liked me… he said I was special.” Spencer sniffled, and Derek’s heart ached.

“You are special, Spencer. Forget about you genius brain, you’re the sweetest and most interesting person I know, and I am so so sorry I let you get tangled up with that jackass.” Morgan continued. Spencer just kept crying into Derek’s shoulder, the two of them tangled up on Reid’s couch. “I should have told you he was bad news, I knew he was a player but… I didn’t think he was such piece of- you deserve better Spencer.” He finally finished.

“No, it’s all my fault.” Spencer pulled away. “You shouldn’t have to comfort me cause I went and got myself hurt. I feel like such a dumb kid.” He wiped his eyes and shook his head at himself. “I just… Garcia kept saying if I acted more confident… I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“You were thinking about what a cute, fun guy you are. And that anyone would be lucky to spend even a second with you.” Morgan nearly cut him off, holding his head in his hands to make him look at him. Spencer stared for a while, had Derek Morgan just called him cute? And now he was holding his cheek so gently, Reid felt his face heat up.

It all happened so fast, but the next moment passed and they were kissing. Derek holding Spencer around his waist now, the genius gave a little sigh of delight before Morgan pulled away.

“Spencer… you are  _ everything _ to me… since the moment you came into the bullpen months ago I haven’t been able to get you out of my head I… You deserve so much more than what was given to you.” Morgan told him.

And Spencer couldn’t help it, so he kissed him again. And again, and again and again. Until Morgan began laughing, pulling Spencer close and kissing him a final time. “Let me take you on a proper date, and I’ll show you exactly how wonderful you should be treated.” Derek kept himself from pleading, holding Spencer’s hand gently and giving him a loving smile.

And Spencer was already forgetting about Bryce or whatever.


	11. SCP AU- Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So I finally finished part 2 of the SCP au! it took me a long time because I was all confused about where to go, but I finished it and have some really really cool stuff planned! I might take these chapters down and post them as their own individual story, let me know if you think that's a good idea!!! I'd love to get comments from you guys and requests! They help so much I've had an awful writer's block for a while now, enjoy!!!!

Morgan sat in his arm chair across from the couch for a while, just staring at Spencer’s sleeping form. He finally sighed and got up, opting to make a cup of coffee. Garcia had left a few moments ago, promising to figure out as much as she could and coming back to help. Morgan fiddled with the patch in his hands, looking down at the mysterious symbol and number. He shook his head and pocketed it, pouring a cup of coffee and turning to get the cream and sugar. When he turned back around Spencer was up and across the room, staring at the coffee pot.

“Spencer, you scared me.” Morgan laughed, and the boy looked up at him and then back down at the coffee. “Smells good, right? Do you want some?” He asked, and Spencer immediately looked up shocked. Derek didn’t wait for him to answer, he poured him a cup and handed it over. Spencer took a tentative sip before making a face. “It’s kind of bitter without cream and sugar, but I only like a little.” He explained, passing it over to Spencer.

He made quick work of staring at the items and putting the cream in his coffee. His face got a look of wonder as he saw the surreal way the cream swirled around in the dark liquid. He then scooped up some sugar and put it in, taking another sip. And the way his eyes lit up made Derek want to burst out laughing. Spencer started scooping more and more sugar into the cup before Morgan finally intervened.

“Woah, pretty boy, have some coffee with your sugar.” He laughed, earning a sideways glance from the mysterious boy. Spencer took a sip and his eyes grew large, taking another and another. “You like coffee, huh?” Morgan asked.

The two sat down on the couch, Spencer sipping his drink, until Derek decided it was time to bring up the episode that had happened earlier. “So… Spencer, you got a little upset earlier. What exactly was that?” He asked.

“What do you mean?” Spencer asked, and Morgan was happy he’d gotten a full sentence ut of him.

“You did some pretty… remarkable things… you made some things float, and you said you knew those men I saw.” He explained, and Spencer tensed up. “It’s alright, I’m not gonna let anything bad happen to you, but I need to know.” He told him. Spencer raised his gaze shakily, and nodded. “Good, you’re doing so good.” Morgan tried to encourage, but he could tell he was getting more and more petrified with each passing second. “Why are you running from them?” Morgan asked.

Spencer swallowed hard and rolled the sleeves of the hoodie Morgan had given him up to show his arms. The horrible scars and bruises still littered them. “Did they do other things to you?” Morgan asked, and Spencer nodded.

“There are others… like me…” Spencer whispered. They stared at each other for a moment before a knock on the door made Spencer jump. Morgan noted the fear in Spencer’s eyes when whoever was there knocked a second time.

“It’s okay, it’s probably Garcia.” Morgan promised, making his way over to the dor and checking through the peephole. But his blood ran cold when he saw the same man from two nights ago standing outside his door, he was sans his lab coat and had a determined look in his eyes.

Morgan looked over when he felt Spencer’ gently tug on his sleeve and give a scared look.

“Is it her?” He whispered, so so quiet. And Morgan shook his head, earning a petrified look from Spencer.

“It’s okay just… come here.” Morgan whispered as well. He led Spencer down the hall to a closet and put him in, closing the door all but a crack. “I’ll come get you in a minute, just stay quiet, okay?” He assured. And Spencer nodded, putting both hands over his mouth to keep in his scared whimpers, and Derek’s heart ached at the sight. He closed the door all the way and locked it, just in case. Then went over to the front door.

The minute he opened it, Miller began talking. “Hello sir, good morning.” He gave that same creepily kind and polite smile. And Garcia was right, he did seem like a cult leader.

“How can I help you?” Morgan asked, pretending not to recognize him. He had a feeling Miller knew he was pretending, but didn’t say anything.

“My name is Dr. Miller, I work for a research team here in Quantico and I’ve received word that you may have seen something my team and I are looking for. A research tool we’ve seemed to have… misplaced.” He decided on the words very carefully, not giving away too much information, but somehow still frightening Morgan with his much he knew. And he kept eyeing Morgan. And Derek felt scared, he  _ knew  _ Morgan was hiding something. “Agent Morgan,” He continued, and Derek stifled a gasp. This man knew his name  _ and  _ profession. And he said it so bluntly, he wanted Morgan to know he could get any information he wanted, whenever he wanted it. “Does this mean anything to you?” He produced a patch with the same symbol as the one on Spencer’s clothes.

“I can’t say it does.” Morgan told him. And Miller pocketed the patch.

“Agent Morgan, as a special agent of the FBI I’m sure you understand the pressing concern of national security.” He started, and Morgan kept his gaze hard.

“Of course Dr. Miller. I’d be a fool not to.” He added. Miller looked at him for a moment more before handing him a business card.

“Well if you discover anything of interest, don’t hesitate to call me.” He insisted. And Morgan took the card.

“You bet.” He assured. The doctor nodded and turned away, before saying one last thing.

“And agent Morgan, do be careful. Because whoever may have stumbled upon our… research tool… may not know the danger their getting themselves into.” He gave one last curt nod, and walked down the complex stairs. Morgan closed the door, waited until he heard the entrance doors click shut, then moved back into the apartment.

Derek quickly unlocked the closet door and yanked it open, making Spencer jump and cover his mouth harder, keeping in a scream. “It’s okay! It’s okay, it’s just me.” Morgan promised. Spencer looked up at him and Derek kept in a gasp, his eyes were glowing blue again and his tears were also big blue and glowing. The circuit board he was hiding next to was sparking and going haywire.

“He was here! He was here he knows where I am!” Spencer cried.

“It’s okay, he left, I won’t let him get you-”

“You don’t KNOW THAT!” Spencer cried, and a wave of what felt like electric energy threw Morgan backwards. He hit the far wall then fell to the floor. Spencer was curled into a ball with his hands over his ears, rocking back and forth.

“Spencer, you have to calm down or people are going to notice you!” Derek pleaded, but it was like Spencer couldn’t hear him. The circuit board sparked again and exploded, plunging the room into darkness as the power cut out. Morgan looked up and noticed the boy was glowing all over, and cracks were spreading in the drywall. But what made Morgan panic was when he saw blood running from Spencer’s eyes and nose. “Spencer, stop please!” He cried, running over to him, he didn’t think before throwing his arms around the younger man and holding him as tight as possible. Spencer whined and fought against the touch for a while, but Morgan knew he couldn’t let him go until he calmed down. He found himself not caring about the damage to his apartment, but the idea of him hurting himself was terrifying.

Finally after a few moments, Spencer stopped fighting, and he fell limp in Derek’s arms. His entire body was still shaking, so Morgan hushed him and rubbed his arms soothingly. “He’s here… he’s coming after me he was  _ here.” _ Spencer mumbled.

“I know, I know, but he’s not going to get you, I promise.” Derek swore. “Spencer, do you know how he knew you were here?” He asked, and the younger man nodded.

“Miller knows everything. He has people who help him in every department of your government. He makes sure nobody knows about us.” Spencer opened up, whispering and looking over his shoulder, like he thought Miller was there. “I’ll never get away from him…” He whispered and Derek shook his head.

“No, you’ll be okay, I promise. I know people who can help you.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Morgan… you can’t be serious.” Aaron stepped between the group and the door, like he was trying to keep the team safe.

“I know how it sounds but you have to believe me… there’s something going on here and this kid is part of it.” Derek insisted.

“If some kind of top agent is looking for this kid, we have to bring him back.” Gideon started. “He already tracked down your apartment, who knows what they’ll do to get him back.” He continued. Spencer jumped in his seat and his eyes got wide. One of Derek’s new friends seemed to sense his distress and she smiled at him.

“Hi… Spencer, was it?” She asked, and the younger man didn’t respond. “My name is JJ, I work with your friend, Derek. I’ve known him for a while.” She began, and Spencer met her eye line, before glancing over at Gideon and tensing up.

“He’s going to bring me back.” Spencer accused, and JJ shook her head.

“No, no, no. We’re not bringing you anywhere, you see, we work for the FBI-”

“You’re one of  _ THEM?!” _ Spencer shrieked and leapt up from his chair, backing into a corner.

“Spencer, who?” Derek started.

“Miller! One of  _ his! _ One of his…  _ eyes! Everywhere!” _ Morgan began to get concerned now that Spencer was getting worked up, but he stopped when he saw a look of horror cross Gideon’s face when Spencer said that name.

“Derek, let me see that patch you said he had.” Gideon quickly demanded, and Morgan fished it out of his pocket, tossing it over to him. The minute he saw the symbol and number he visibly paled.

“Spencer…” He whispered, closing his fist around the patch and getting up. He took two long strides before being in front of the young man, who cowered a bit. But Gideon leaned forward and grabbed Spencer in his arms, holding him tight. “It  _ is  _ you! Spencer my… my little boy! I thought I’d never see you again, I thought all this time it was hopeless I thought they’d  _ killed  _ you! But… you’re here!” He hugged him impossibly tight and the rest of the team stared in shock. Spencer pulled his head back a little bit, narrowing his eyes at Gideon, like clouds were clearing up in his brain. And he was remembering something he’d repressed, or was made to repress, for so so long.

“...Dad?”


	12. Guess Who's Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spencer has a run in with an old face and stand sup for himself

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was a request from @scarletnight89 I hope you guys like it! it's a continuation from chapter 10!!! Please comment and let me know what you think and give me any requests you might enjoy!

Spencer hummed and pushed his hair out of his eyes, trying to keep the curls back. But his hair fell back in his face when a set of arms wrapped around him from behind, and Derek started kissing his face and head. “Derek! What are you doing?” Spencer asked, laughing as Morgan picked him up and spun him around.

“I’m happy you agreed to come out with us tonight.” Derek explained. “I know you prefer to stay in, but the team misses you when we go out for fun. It’s not as nice hanging out with you when it’s over a case.” Morgan explained with a wave of his hand. And Spencer rolled his eyes with a grin, before wrapping his arms around Derek’s shoulders and giving him a kiss.

“I’d go to a million bars with you after how special you made last weekend for me. I can’t believe you got tickets to the new exhibit for me.” Spencer beamed, spinning on his heel and picking up the small replica of the galaxy Andromeda Derek had surprised him with at the museum. “We know so little about our universe.” He marveled. And Derek grinned, kissing the side of his head.

“You deserved a nice day out.” He explained.

“I still talked your ear off.” Spencer blushed, shaking his head. “God I rambled the entire time we were there you must have been so embarrassed of me.” He tried to laugh it off, but the ramark broke Morgan’s heart. So he wrapped the genius up in another big hug and kissed him senseless.

“I love hearing you ramble, it means you’re happy.” Derek explained, and Spencer’s blush deepened. He detached himself from Derek and brushed out his new, slim fitting waistcoat. Then finally managed to get his hair out of his face.

“How do I look?” Spencer asked, a hint of insecurity in his voice.

“You look amazing.” Morgan assured, wrapping his arm around Spencer and heading to the door. “Don’t forget your glasses, you said the bar lights bother your contacts.” Derek recalled, putting the thick framed glasses on Spencer’s nose.

“You don’t think they’re too dorky for a night out?” He asked, unsure. And Morgan shook his head.

“Oh they’re definitely dorky, but you still look fantastic in them.” He assured, and Spencer looked away, hurrying out the door.

“Come on, the others are waiting for us… and quit complimenting me I don’t wanna show up blushing, Garcia would have a field day.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Look who decided to show up.” Prentiss started, nearly knocking over her glass. She was already noticeably tipsy and it made Spencer laugh as he put down his messenger bag and sat down in between her and Morgan.

“You got started a bit early, huh?” He teased, and Emily waved him off, sliding him a sweet drink she knew he’d like.

“So happy you got Reid to come out with us.” Hotch gave Derek a warm smile and introduced the two new faces to his date, a woman named Beth. She seemed very nice, but Spencer and Derek still didn’t know her too well yet.

Spencer blushed a bit at what Hotch had said. The idea that people wanted to be around him felt so foreign, but he was really starting to believe it. A few months ago he’d have thought they were mocking him. That’s just what happened when the idea that you’re unlovable is drilled into your head from such a young age. But Derek had been so loving and patient with him, he was really starting to come out of his shell.

“You wanna dance, pretty boy?” Derek asked, getting pulled onto the dance floor by Garcia. Spencer shook his head with a laugh.

“You go, I’m gonna finish my drink.” He explained, and Morgan smiled, giving him a quick kiss on the side of the head and then running off the join Penelope in some drunk dancing. Spencer laughed a little, watching his boyfriend and one of his best friends mess around, until JJ pulled his attention away.

“So how are things going with you two?” She asked, motioning to Morgan. Spencer smiled and felt a warm feeling spread through his chest.

“Things have been going wonderfully, JJ.” He assured, bringing his hands together. “After last week’s case I was so bothered… just a really tough one for me, you know?” Reid asked, and the group nodded. Sometimes a case really hit home for some of them, they weren’t sure why some bothered them more than others. But every now and again there was a case that they couldn’t get out of their head. “So the next day he took me to this new space science exhibit I had been talking about, and he just made the day so nice for me, and made sure I wasn’t thinking about any of the bad things from the past week. And when we got home he put the game on and I made dinner for him. He’d never admit it but I think he likes it when I act like his little housewife sometimes.” Spencer joked, and Prentiss burst out laughing at that remark.

“Never tell him you know that, he’d get so defensive.” Emily snickered, and waved down the bartender for another drink. “I’m having myself a relaxed night,” she started “so who wants to drive me home?” Prentiss asked, and Hotch gave her a pat on the shoulder.

“Beth and I will get you home, just slow down… jeez, Prentiss.” He shook his head when she took another shot. Spencer tried to stifle a laugh, and he pushed his hair from his face, showing off his large hazel eyes. This action gained attention from another across the room.

“Hey there, beautiful.” A slimey slurred voice rudely interrupted the story Hotch and Beth were telling. Spencer looked up and felt nervous when he noticed a familiar man was far too close to his personal space, his arm was locked to the back of Reid’s chair, effectively keeping him trapped. Almost like this man expected him to run and was trying to keep him prisoner. “Is a man of your looks all alone tonight?” He asked, smiling. Spencer looked back and forth between his friends and the new guy curiously.

“No, I’m obviously here with friends.” He explained, keeping a polite yet forceful tone.

“Well that’s too bad, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if I stole you away.” He grinned.

“I would mind.” Prentiss raised her hand and gave him a look that read ‘are you stupid?’. The man ignored her and tried putting his hand on Spencer's lower back, and the genius squirmed.

“Please stop that.” He asked, scooting away and now keeping his eyes on the man like he was waiting for the next advance. It wasn’t until he got a good look at him in the dimly lit room that the recognition in his brain clicked, making Spencer feel sick. “Bryan.” he recalled, not being able to stop himself from saying the name.

“You know me?” Bryan asked, confused, and Spencer felt rage flare up in his chest. Not only did he have the audacity to not remember how much he’d hurt Spencer, how he’d made him cry his eyes out, but now he was trying to pick him up  _ again?  _ After he’d come here with his friends and boyfriend?

At this point Derek’s eyes had casted up, he didn’t recognize Bryan at first. But he saw a looming figure and his pretty boy in a defensive position. The others at the table looked ready to spring up too, like they were waiting for this bastard to try something. Morgan quickly shot a look to Garcia and the two started off quickly towards the table, Derek ready to rip this guy away, but he stopped when Spencer pushed his chair out and stood up.

He was standing confidently, meeting the man’s eyeline and looking more sure of himself than Morgan had seen in him since they’d met. “Are you kidding me?” Spencer snapped, and Morgan held his place, watching him face off.

“Huh?” The guy asked, clearly drunk, and Derek then recognized him as the scumbag Bryan he was once friends with.

“You don’t have the decency to  _ remember  _ me?” Reid demanded, balling his hands up into fists. Then something in Bryan’s face clicked.

“Oh my god, it’s  _ you?” _ he asked unsure. “Damn, geeky cleans up nice.” Bryan slurred, and Spencer felt livid. “You know I wouldn’t be so embarrassed to be seen with you now if you dressed like that more, you wanna ‘nother chance, darling?” He asked, and Spencer took a step back to keep himself from literally shoving him, keeping a calm composure.

“I wouldn’t be caught DEAD with a disgusting drunken scumbag like you!” Reid kept his voice from yelling, but with the same spite and force. He still turned heads from around the bar, causing Bryan to shrink back embarrassed. “You knew me for less than two days and managed to treat me like shit! And now you think I’ll fall all over you? What the hell kind of person do you think you are? Do you really think your objectifying remarks are something to swoon over? Do you even hear yourself when you speak? You sound like a twelve year old boy trying to impress his buddies by hitting on a girl at the school dance. Which could be kind of funny for a child, but just pathetic and sad when I see you do it.”

At this point the bar was mostly quiet and everybody was watching, Bryan still humiliated. “Cut it out, you’re making a scene.” He remarked.

“Oh I  _ hope  _ I am making a scene. Am I  _ embarrassing  _ you, Bryan? Because that’s how I feel to have wasted my time getting so upset over you. So just… go away! I’m having a night with my friends and I don’t need you making everybody here uncomfortable.” He huffed and sat back down, brushing himself off and ignoring the presence behind him. “I’m so sorry for that, Beth, you were telling us how you and Hotch met. Please continue, I was enjoying getting to know you.” Spencer’s tone radiated no distress, like it didn’t even phase him. He wasn’t about to divert his energy and time over somebody like Bryan.

Morgan watched with wide eyes, then felt pride swell up in his chest. He’d never seen Spencer stand up for himself like that. Bryan threw his arms out. “Whatever, brainiacs aren’t  _ sexy  _ anyway… you know screw you, you’re hardly a 3 or 4… I can get any 10 I want in this place… How ‘bout you, babe?” He drunkenly otioned to Emily, who gave him a blank stare, and Bryan backed off.

“Whatever…” he mumbled, then grabbed some blonde woman by the wrist as she walked past him. “How about you, honey, wanna get out of here?” He asked, and she gasped, mortified before throwing her drink at him.

“Get bent asshole!” She huffed, and Spencer tried not to laugh when the security guard took Bryan by the arm.

“We can’t have you grabbing people and making a scene buddy, I think you’ve had enough for tonight, it’s time to go.” The huge man said gently trying not to escalate the situation.

“This dude’s the one who yelled.” He defended, motioning to Spencer. But the security guard kept his hand on his arm.

“I think we’ve all got a pretty clear understanding of what was going on here, let’s move it, buddy.” and Bryan was pulled to the door.

“I’m sorry for causing a scene.” Spencer told the table. “Let’s continue our evening.” he urged, and his friends nodded, a proud smile was dancing on Hotch’s face as he and Beth continued their story.

On the way out of the bar that night Hotch and Beth were holding Emily up. “I told you to slow down.” Hotch muttered.

“Yeah I should have listened… I think those shots had a lot of alcohol in them.”

“They were shots, Prentiss, they’re just straight- you know, nevermind.” Their boss decided, waving goodbye to Morgan who had Spencer leaning on his arm.

“I’m sorry if I embarrassed you tonight, with m shouting at Bryan and all.” Spencer spoke, when they got on the bus home.

“Pretty boy, I don’t think I could be more proud of you right now.” Derek assured, and Spencer gave him a little smile.

“You make wonderful support.” Reid assured, earning a laugh from Derek. It then fell silent for a moment as Spencer fell deep in thought, fiddling with his shirt. Derek waited for him to speak up, which he quickly did. “You know, at first I thought he was pretending to not recognize me to hurt me. Doing that thing he does where he gets your confidence really low so he can make a move… but after talking to him… He was so drunk, and he was so drunk those months ago when I first met him. I think he actually didn’t have the capacity to remember me.” Spencer gave Derek a worried look and touched his arm gently. “I know you guys don’t talk anymore, but you were friends and I’m not sure who else he has… I know it doesn’t excuse his predatory actions but I think you should reach out to him again, and maybe encourage him to get help.” Spencer nearly pleaded. “After I got mad at him I looked him over, he seemed so unkept and unhappy. You know him better than I do, I don’t want him to keep going like this if he can have the chance to be better.”

Derek looked at Spencer for a minute before pulling him into a deep kiss. “I love you, Spencer, so so much. And I’ll reach out, if it’s what you want.” He promised, and Spencer nodded, before laying his head on Derek’s shoulder and closing his eyes, feeling confident and at peace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment if you can!!!!


	13. SCP au part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SCP au part 3! the team gets information about this crazy boy and crazy event! Will they accept this as a family or will they reject all this weirdness?? Spoiler alert (but not really) they already love him!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the SCP au part 3! sorry this one took so long and I actually don't know if I like it that much it took me a long time and I was having trouble with the exposition and I didn't want it to sound super over explained and info packed, but I did my best please let me know what you think!!!  
I got some mixed opinions on putting the SCP au into a separate story, so let me know if you think it's a good idea! I'm probably gonna do it but I didn't wanna keep you guys waiting!!! Let me know what you think, this chapter was really difficult for me so I'd appreciate it.

“...Dad?” Spencer’s eyes narrowed as he wiggled from Gideon’s grasp, and he looked at him skeptically for a moment. Gideon just stayed there, with his arms outstretched, wanting to hold his lost son again.

“It’s me. It’s me, Spencer.” He promised. “I’ve missed you so much-” But at hearing this comment Spencer wiggled further away and backed off, pulling Derek by the arm and positioning himself behind the man he’d decided was going to protect him.

“No, no, no, no… that’s wrong.” Spencer muttered. “You… you  _ gave  _ me to them… they said you didn’t want a  _ freak!”  _ He seemed to be getting upset, Derek felt his hands trembling a bit as he gripped his shirt tighter.

“Spencer, Spencer that’s not true.” Gideon begged. But he didn’t seem surprised by this, in fact he seemed like he expected that reaction. “They took you away, you were only five and you were having these… these episodes, things would start floating and you were getting stronger. I knew if people found out they’d take you away, so I hid you, for as long as I could. But they found you and took you and… Spencer I never stopped looking, we never gave up.” He promised, and something about that story must have seemed familiar to Spencer, because he let go of Derek’s arm and took a step forward.

“You said to keep quiet… that you’d make them go away.” Spencer spoke, and then gasped when a sudden surge or memories and feelings came flooding back to him. It was all so overwhelming. But it was true.

_ There was a closet, under the stairs. He remembered dad picking him up and putting him in there. “Keep quiet Spencer, I’ll make them go away, just stay hidden here.” _

_ Then the door closed and there was shouting from upstairs. “We don’t know what you’re talking about! There’s nobody else here!” _

_ “Scanners locked onto his signature,” A voice Spencer couldn’t recognize. “You’re in danger if you keep him here, he’s not your son, he’s a monster.” _

_ “Get out of MY HOUSE!” _

“Spencer… Spencer are you okay?” Spencer shook himself when the memory stopped and realized there were tears falling down his face, and his eyes were glowing blue again. “Hey, it’s alright.” Morgan spoke up in a gentle tone, and Spencer eyes flickered over to Gideon.

“ _ Dad!” _ He cried out and practically launched himself across the small space between them, latching onto the older man and holding him as tight as he could. Gideon closed his eyes and tears were now running down his face. “Dad…” He mumbled again.

“I’m here, I’m here.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Gideon… how long have you been keeping this a secret from us?” JJ asked, as the group sat around Derek’s kitchen table. As soon as Spencer had detached himself from his father, Gideon had quickly and quietly told everyone to leave. Morgan had called Garcia at Jason’s request, he asked anyone who was aware of this situation to be present, and Morgan didn’t question it. “And why did we have to leave the bullpen, it’s always been safe before-”

“It’s not safe from  _ them.  _ Nowhere is.” Gideon stressed, and Spencer flinched at the truth of the statement. “And I wasn’t keeping it a secret from you… it was just too dangerous to talk about it out loud.” He explained.

“So your trips to your cabin in the woods, your private conferences, when you would disappear and we wouldn’t be able to get a hold of you for days at time?” Aaron asked.

“There were times I thought I’d found leads on where they were keeping him… but if they knew they’d move him and send scouts out to stop me. I had to look for him in secret, it was the only way I’d have any chance of seeing my son again.” Gideon explained and Spencer looked away, fidgeting with his fingers nervously. But he looked up when he noticed the group at the table was staring at him.

“He told us he was from below.” Garcia recalled, and Spencer noticeably flinched, so Derek put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“There’s an organization.” Gideon began, once he was sure Spencer was okay. “They call themselves the SCP Foundation, they track down and collect anomalies… things that aren’t of this world, or possess powers that… I don’t even know the extent it goes to.” Jason rubbed his eyes. “They keep them contained and cataloged, to keep them away from the public eye. They have ways of tracking their activity, and they won’t stop unless every single one is contained and subdued.”

“Then we just have to get these assholes off our back and he’ll be safe.” Morgan insisted, feeling a surge of protectiveness over the younger man who’d just been dropped into his life. “Shut down the whole damn organization is we have to-”

“No.” Gideon then spoke, getting a grave look on his face. “There are others… not just Spencer.” His face seemed to pale and the team saw something they rarely saw in the older man. Not just fear, but terror. “I’ve been there… to one of their bases underground… I thought it was where they were keeping Spencer but there are sublevels that go lower and lower… not all of these creatures are like him, there are ones nothing like Spencer, ones that enjoy torment. And they can sense each other. I saw horrible creatures there,  _ things  _ that could manipulate reality and had strength unlike anything in this world… There was somebody there, I thought he was a man but he turned around and… he had no face. As soon as I saw that he began to shift, I heard bones cracking and he… he turned into  _ me.”  _ Gideon spoke, and Spencer began shaking.

“SCP 992. The shifter. It was dangerous… it escaped once.” He mumbled, and everybody turned to look at him. “We were given numbers… and put into a category… the Keters were too dangerous to experiment on… most of us were Euclid… we were there to experiment on.” Spencer’s voice got lower and lower, and when he heard this Gideon had to turn away. That was his  _ son  _ they experimented on. He didn’t even know the awful things that were done to him.

“So some of these things are dangerous, so what?” Derek asked, growing frustrated. “They still kidnapped your son, they still  _ hurt  _ Spencer!” He exclaimed.

“So we’ll hide him again! You managed to hide him and he managed to escape.” JJ started. “And with all of us working together we could keep him safe from them.” She tried. At hearing this Spencer gave her such a confused look, like he couldn’t believe she’d offer to do this for him. JJ noticed his look and reached across the table, gently laying her hand over his, but didn’t say anything.

“I… I can’t let you do that.” Spencer whispered, backing away. “He’s dangerous…  _ I’m  _ dangerous! You don’t understand! I  _ helped them!”  _ Spencer began to tear up as he looked at all these people, these  _ kind  _ people who offered to help him. They didn’t know, they had to know how evil he was. He didn’t deserve their help.

“Spencer, whatever you did when you were captive-” Gideon started, but his son flinched away from him.

“I hurt people…” He mumbled. “They… they kept hurting me. And pushing me. I told them I couldn’t control it! I told them to stop! They didn’t listen!” Spencer backed away, he was leaving burnt footprints in Morgan’s carpet, like his body was made of fire.

“Spencer, calm down.” Derek started. “Tell us what happened. Nobody blames you for any of this.” He comforted, and took a step forward to put his hands on Spencer’s shoulders. Gideon was about to interject, remembering his son didn’t react well to physical contact. But to his shock, Derek put his hands on Spencer’s shoulders and the little anomaly relaxed. His shoulders dropped and he almost seemed… okay?

“There were experiments… and tests…” Spencer whispered. “On my brain and body. I’d wear a-a helmet.” He tried, almost like he didn’t know the word. “I’d solve equations in this room… everything was such a bright white. I’d get it wrong and they’d shock me and I-I-I couldn’t control how I’d react! So they’d take me for more surgeries…”

“Surgeries?” JJ asked, and Spencer nodded, showing his arms where there were incision marks carefully plotted.

“Tests on my blood… organ tissue.” He pulled his shirt up to reveal a horrible scar across his stomach. “They liked to keep me awake… ask me what I was feeling…” On hearing this Gideon looked away. “They could never figure out what made me not human… so the testing kept going, but only on my head… my mind. I can sense the others…”

“The other anomalies?” Aaron asked, and Spencer nodded.

“They’d take me to these chambers, where it would be so dark and I couldn’t hear anything… and I’d have to locate them… sometimes they could sense me too, I don’t know how they did it but when we were in that mindscape they could attack me, I was never strong enough to get away.”

“You said they made you hurt people… what did they make you do?” Gideon asked, and Spencer’s face scrunched up.

“P-people would break into the base… anomalies would escape… foundation personnel would try to leave… I’m sorry!” He cried, putting his head in his hands. “I was so easy to control… the times I would refuse it was just a matter of scarring or hurting me enough to make- make me-”

“To make your powers surge. And then everyone around you would get hurt.” Gideon realized, and Spencer burst into tears, throwing his arms around Derek. Morgan was a bit shocked by this, but returned the hug.

“Whatever happened to you… it’s over now.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gideon sat awake, staring out at the room of people. Each member of the team had decided to stay at Derek’s, and they were all camping out in the living room. Gideon had warned them that now they’d made contact, Miller likely had already found them, as a leader Hotch decided that in case of an ambush they should remain in a group. Including Derek, who even though had his own bed, stayed awake on the living room floor until he saw Spencer fall asleep on the couch. “Morgan, are you awake?” Gideon whispered, quietly, and the younger man sat up silently as to not wake the others.

“Yeah…” He murmured. It was quiet for another minute and Derek leaned his head back. “Am I losing my mind?” He asked, and heard Gideon sigh.

“After Spencer was born… I thought I was going crazy.” He started, then rubbed his eyes. “I  _ accused  _ my wife of going crazy. She kept saying Spencer wasn’t human, I came home with medication for postpartum depression and she lost her head, just screamed at me that I wasn’t listening… I thought she’d actually gone insane.” He mumbled.

“What made you believe her?” Derek asked.

“I  _ saw.”  _ Jason whispered. “I heard whispers on his baby monitor, I went into his room… there was this figure hovering over his cradle, and Spencer was crying. I was about to run forward but everything in the room turned blue, for a second I thought I was dreaming but then I realized it was Spencer doing those things. The other creature fled and I woke up my wife… we ran.”

“Other anomalies are drawn to him?” Derek asked, and the older man nodded.

“The less human ones. The ones that were… darker. We ran from them more often than we ran from Miller and the rest of the Foundation.” Gideon explained, and then stared at Spencer’s sleeping form for a while longer. “I’ll take him away tomorrow, we’ll go on the run again, they shouldn’t bother you anymore once he’s-”

“Gideon, no!” Derek interrupted, a little too loud and JJ stirred a bit, but she didn’t wake up. Jason looked at Morgan with a look of shock, but the man continued. “I found him in the bitter cold, I  _ promised _ I’d help him, I can’t just back out.”

“Derek, you don’t know the extent that this goes. This is too dangerous-”

“For one man to handle alone.” Derek cut him off with the truth. “We’re a family, we’ve always been a family. Why do you think JJ or Hotch didn’t run out in horror the second they realized that this kid is some sort of anomaly? Or even Garcia? You think they weren’t scared shitless? But you’re our family, and he’s your  _ son.  _ So that makes him our family too, got it?” He asked seriously, and Gideon just looked at him, unable to find the words. So finally the man just went back to watching his team rest.

“He’s taken quite a liking to you.” Gideon finally managed and Derek shrugged.

“He feels safe with me I guess, I mean he was so lost that first night he had no other choice but to trust me. He would have died out there in the cold.” Morgan explained, very matter-of-factly, but Gideon didn’t look pleased by this tone.

“Be careful… he doesn’t understand others, the way the world works, he’s never… just be careful.” Gideon finally decided on. And Morgan seemed confused by this cryptic request, like Gideon knew something Derek didn’t. But he wasn’t sure, so he just nodded and fell asleep on the floor, staying close to Spencer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please please PLEASE let me know what you thought of this chapter and if you think I should put this story in a separate series of it's own. I know I asked this before but got a few mixed opinions and i am so indecisive I'm the worst haha


	14. author's note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> author's nte

i'm nt dead, my kebard has been brken this hle time, but i finally got an external one that actually orks so send in prompts! because i anna get back to riting as soon as it comes in the mail tomorro!  
sorry for the typos theres no ay to correct them idk hats rong ith my keyboard but please send in ideas and opinions and stuff and I'll see hat i can put together!!!


	15. Bait

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> @nad requested a fic where Spencer is sent in as bait to interrogate an unsub and Derek gets overprotective. I hope you guys like this one, I worked really hard on it but idk if i like the way it turned out. Please comment and let me know what you guys think or leave me a prompt idea!!!

“The answer is no. And this is the last I want to hear of it.” Derek’s voice was loud, it was likely heard from outside the conference room and in the bullpen, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. How could Spencer, the genius, go along with such a horrible,  _ stupid  _ plan?

“Oh, as long as it’s the last  _ you  _ want to hear of it.” Spencer rolled his eyes, sarcasm lacing his voice. “You know when you come up with ideas I trust you, and support you-”

“I don’t come up with stupid plans that put me directly into the hands of some maniac killing people who look just like me!” Derek snapped, whipping around. This remark made Spencer laugh.

“Oh because driving that ambulance off was so much safer and more thought out?” Reid dared. Morgan didn’t reply to this, he just started out the door. “I’m going in there.” Spencer clarified, and Derek tensed at the door frame.

“Christ can’t you listen to me for once!” He was practically begging.

“This is bigger than me! It’s bigger than us! And I know I can do it!” Spencer promised. And normally Derek would believe him, Spencer had questioned what felt like a million unsubs, some more dangerous than this one. But  _ this  _ has never been the plan.

“You can question him all you want but offering yourself up as a victim-”

“I’m not! He just needs to think that I am!” Spencer cut him off.

“And what if he pulls a move and we can’t get in there in time?”

“He’s handcuffed to a chair and was stripped down and put in a jumpsuit, he’s got  _ nothing on him!  _ And you know that. So can you stop acting so controlling and just let me do my job!”

“What is all this shouting about!?” The door swung open, nearly hitting Derek in the face. Hotch walked in and immediately took his side with Reid, already guessing what the argument was about. But Morgan wasn’t too happy to see his boss at the moment.

“I’m telling Reid we’re not doing that stupid plan.” Derek told him. “And fuck you for even suggesting it!” He raised his voice again and Spencer’s eyes widened a little. He’d never heard somebody curse out Hotch like that, especially not a member of his own team. But to his credit, Hotch kept his cool, despite fuming on the inside at his agent.

“ _ Dr. Reid  _ is an agent to this bureau first, and you  _ boyfriend  _ second. If you can’t keep a professional line it might be best if a transfer is in order.” He spoke coldly and seriously, but it was an overall empty threat. “We’re lucky he fits the victimology so well and if it means finding out where his partner is we’re taking the chance. Do I need to remind you there are still four students missing? And the only way to find his partner-”

“Is through him, I know. But Hotch you didn’t even try questioning him as an agent first!” Derek reminded him.

“You know it won’t work.” Spencer piped in. “And if we do that, and it doesn’t, then he’ll see through this plan immediately. The only way it’ll work is if we keep him thinking that this case is far down on our priority list, that he’s not even worth a convoluted plan. We bruise his ego and get him willing to spill.” Reid explained it all as if it were so obvious, and it made Morgan furious. Because of course Spencer was right. He was never wrong, but that didn’t mean Derek had to go through with offering the love of his life up as cheap bait. The unsub’s name was Micheal, he lured young university students away under the guise of “teaching” them, and Spencer would be perfect at playing the part of an eager student.

Before he could yell again he felt a soft hand on his arm. “Can we have a minute?” Spencer asked Hotch, speaking much softer this time. The unit chief nodded and left the room, closing the door a bit too hard behind him in his frustration. “Derek.” Spencer got his attention gently. “The prison guard will be right there, armed and ready, and if anything goes wrong you’ll be on the other side of the two way mirror. You know I have to do this.” His tone was pleading this time. And Derek knew it was the truth. If something happened to those boys and Spencer could have done something to stop it, he’d never forgive himself. “I’m just going to get enough information so we can finish the profile on his partner, then I’ll get out of there and we’ll find the other guy ourselves, okay?” He begged.

Derek let out a long sigh before shifting to wrap his arms around his pretty boy. “Get in, and then get out, okay? Just ask the questions we need, no digging for more.” He begged, feeling Spencer nod against his shoulder. “You got this, go be great.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The door to the holding cell opened up as Spencer passed the guard (who remained stationary by the door) and pretended to be surprised when he saw the unsub sitting at the metal table provided. “Oh! I didn’t realize somebody would still be in here.” Reid looked over his shoulder as if he was checking for something, and made a visible gesture that radiated ‘eh, whatever’. “Do you mind if I disinfect the table and benches? They need to be cleaned after each rotation, an inmate got sick and it spread around the prison, we’re trying to avoid it happening again.” Spencer lied easily, showing the unsub the rag and spray he was holding.

“They let a cleaning crew in here? Aren’t they supposed to be questioning me?” Micheal asked, he was deluded and self absorbed, his hubris was the main reason he was taken down when his partner got away,

“I don’t think so…” Spencer trailed off with a look of thought on his face. “I actually think they left a while ago, the big guy said something about a real killer across the country, they said it needed their time.” He spoke dismissively, pretending not to notice the unsub practically boiling he was so livid at the remark. “Besides, I’m not a cleaning crew, I’m an intern. I’m gonna be part of the FBI someday soon.” Spencer spoke proudly, and this made Michael burst out laughing.

“You? You look like a pipe cleaner with googly eyes taped to it. They’d never let you in the field.” He scoffed, and Spencer put an annoyed look on his face.

“Of course they would! I’m working really hard and I take any opportunity to learn.” He had a proud look on his face and the unsub narrowed his eyes.

“You look like the type that’s… worth my time.” He chose his words very carefully. “And you’re interested in learning, huh?” He asked, and Spencer nodded his head eagerly.

“Well I’d love to but… they don’t give me a lot of experience, I don’t think they think I’m ready.” He put on a sad face and acted like the unsub’s sick grin didn’t bother him.

“Well if it’s experience you want, it seems these amateurs don’t know a real criminal mastermind when he stares them in the face. I can outsmart these people no problem, and once I’m out… I’d love to show you a few things.” Micheal leaned in and Reid had to try not to gag at the smell of his breath, cigarettes.

But he had a job to do, so he put an intrigued look on his face. “You really think you can talk your way out of this? And… you’d show me how a real criminal thinks?” He asked, trying not to roll his eyes at how stupid he sounded, but the unsub was buying it.

“Of course I can. I’m the best in my field.” He explained, with a twisted smile. Spencer pretended to ponder it for a moment. 

“If you did that, then I’d be a real profiler.” He spoke like he was thinking it over just to himself

“Just give me twenty four hours to break free, and then come find me and I’ll show you how you can really break into people’s minds.”

“Where would I even find you?” Spencer asked. This was it, even if he didn’t give him the location of his and his partner’s hideaway, the location he picks will determine the type of area they use as a comfort zone and where they can start their search.

“We’ll bring you there ourselves.” A voice spoke from behind Reid and his blood ran cold. Before he could even turn around the guard from outside had him pinned to the table with his gun to the back of his skull. He’d jammed his nightstick in the door to keep it blocked.

It all made sense.

Why they couldn’t figure out his partner, why they couldn’t pin down the location. He was one of the police officers the entire time, who knows how much evidence he was keeping them from finding. Spencer cursed under his breath when he remembered this officer had been the one who gave him all of the unsubs writings earlier. Not only did he know him, but he’d taken out every bit of information that would lead them to an accurate profile right under their noses.

“You know Dr. Reid,” the unsub stood up, he’d never even been handcuffed. Reid had been played for an absolute fool, “if it weren’t for you meeting with my partner earlier I do think your little plan might have worked. You certainly look dumb and inexperienced enough to be an intern cleaning tables.”

Spencer heard pounding on the door, but he couldn’t make anything else out as he was hoisted up and thrown on the ground. “It was so easy to make you think I was self absorbed enough to ignore so many crucial signs, you think anyone with a kill count as impressive as mine could be fooled by your average brainiac and his meathead boyfriend?” Micheal snapped and gave him a swift kick to the ribs. Spencer stilled at this comment and the man laughed. “We’ve been watching you this whole time, and you’re supposed to be the  _ smart one.” _ He laughed. “I saw how close you were with agent Morgan, or as you called him  _ ‘Der-Bear’...  _ that’s awfully cute.” He sneered. Spencer felt like he was going to throw up when he heard that, they’d been in the hotel room at that point. This entire time they’d been spied on and bullied as they just played the unsub’s twisted game.

The door was still being torn to shreds from the other side, but the problem is a cell wasn’t designed to be opened too easily. “Spencer, look out!” A voice on the other side of the door called out and Spencer threw his head down right before three gunshots hit the door, causing the lock to explode. At the open opportunity Derek kicked the door down and he along with three other offers, JJ, Rossi and Hotch stormed in.

“Slow down!” Micheal said with a smile. “We don’t want  _ pretty boy  _ to be hurt.” He hissed, digging the gun into Spencer’s temple. Reid opened his mouth to say something to his friends but Misheal clapped a hand over his mouth. “Quiet you!” He barked, and Spencer took a calculated risk.

He opened his mouth just a little against Micheal’s hand, and bit down as hard as he could. “YOU LITTLE BASTARD!” He yelped. His partner, still in his cops uniform, tried to grab the scrambling genius before two simultaneous shots rang out.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spencer stayed on the ground with his hands over his head.  _ This is okay, it’s all okay, I was shot and I’m dead but it’s okay, statistically 100% of people die… so it’s okay… wait… I think I might still be…  _

“Spencer? Spence, baby are you okay?” A voice came through and Spencer began to slowly and very shakily take his hands off his head. “It’s over, honey, come on you’re okay lift your head up.”

_ That’s Derek’s voice, I love Derek. _

Spencer lifted his head so slowly, when he saw light he ducked it down again. “I think he’s in shock.” A voice that wasn’t Derek said. “He was so close to both bullets.”

“You’re not Derek.” Spencer spoke before he could really control himself.

“I’ll make sure he’s okay, you guys deal with those two.” Derek’s voice said again. Part of his vision registered to motionless bodies on the ground, but before he could register them Spencer was being moved. His initial reaction was to struggle, but whatever was caring him smelled like Derek. And it took Spencer another moment to realize it  _ was _ Derek.

“W-wait, Derek put me down.” Spencer mumbled, the shock wearing off and the genius feeling a bit of shame for being carried in front of everyone. “Derek wait, what happened.” Spencer asked again, as Morgan set him down and gave him a glass of water from the dispenser next to them as they sat down in a private break room.

“We-”

“Oh my god, the-the officer in the precinct-”

“I know Spencer, just take a minute.” Derek hushed him, stroking his hair in the way he knew his pretty boy liked. “Those bullets flew right by your head. It must have rattled your perfect little brain, just breath for a minute.” He urged.

The two sat in silence for a moment, and then Derek heard Spencer sigh and the young genius put his head in his hands. “You were right.” He mumbled. “God I was so STUPID!” Spencer cried out, leaning his head back. “This whole idea, the whole profile… everything was so wrong and so SIMPLE! We should have seen it but instead I walked in there like an idiot!”

“No, baby. You were doing your job.”

“You warned me and I didn’t listen-”

“I was being overprotective. There was no way we could have known.” Derek admitted, and Spencer leaned against him. “You know I would have done the same thing, and you would have been mad at me… just like the ambulance situation all over again.” Morgan started, and Spencer gave a weak laugh, feeling limp and tired after the adrenaline rush and crash.

After everything was finished at the precinct Hotch took a seat next to Morgan, who was watching Spencer get his stuff together from across the office. “I shouldn’t have had that idea to put him in harm’s way. I never thought something like this would happen, it was so…” Hotch trailed off for a moment before turning to face Morgan completely. “I should have never let there be one man on guard, and I should have never sent Spencer in like that… I’m sorry, Morgan.”

“It’s not me you have to be sorry to.” Derek told him, his tone a little cold, but he caved and let his shoulders drop. “But I understand why you did it. We thought his partner was with those victims, we thought we were running out of time… we thought a lot of wrong things.” Morgan realized.

“The students are safe, they were found in an underground part of the warehouse we arrested Micheal in, Prentiss and the local PD found them when they were securing the area. They were literally under us the entire time, this whole thing could have been avoided.” The two sat in silence for a while before Derek noticed Spencer giving him a smile from across the room. “We’re leaving late morning tomorrow, take him back to the hotel and make sure he feels safe.” Was all the unit chief said before getting up and walking away.

Derek nodded to himself before taking a few steps to wrap his arms around Spencer's shoulders. “Derek, what did Hotch want to talk to you about?” Reid asked, tucking his messenger bag over his shoulder. But Derek didn’t answer, he just kissed Spencer’s hair.

“Come on, pretty boy, let’s go get some sleep.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment and give me any thoughts or prompts you might have! I finally got my new keyboard!


	16. A Perfect Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a sickeningly sweet chapter of a day out where Spencer and Derek love and support each other. totally self indulgent, I hope you like it though! Let me know what you think!

“Derek! Derek, wake up it’s today!” Morgan’s eyes opened groggily as something landed on top of him and shook him awake. He rolled over and looked at the clock, groaning to himself when he saw it was only 6am.

“We only get a day off every so often, and we need to spend it getting up this early?” Derek grumbled. But as soon as the words left his mouth he was smacked with a pillow. “Ow, what was that for?” He muttered, opening his eyes fully to see a very grumpy looking Spencer.

“You promised.” Spencer said very simply, he was trying to hide the little bit of hurt that he felt truly. But Derek noted it and began laughing reassuringly, sitting up.

“I know, I know. Grab me a cup of coffee, babe, I’m gonna throw some clothes on.” Morgan started. A giant smile broke out on his little genius’ face and he leapt from the room to prepare a cup of coffee for his boyfriend. “Hey, Spence? How do I even dress for this?” Morgan realized he had no idea how to present himself for such a convention.

“You can dress casually if you want.” Spencer called. “Some people dress up, but it’s really not the fancy type of place. I’m wearing something warm because they always crank the air conditioning way too high.” He laughed, putting the coffee down on the nightstand and pulling on one of his favorite soft, chunky-knit sweaters. He spun on his heel to put his arms out, showing off his cute simplistic bow tie and white shirt under the muted purple button up sweater, and dark pants, with comically bright red sneakers. And of course, his mismatched socks were on display. “How do I look?” He asked, pushing his curls from his face.

Derek grinned and pulled him in for a kiss, dipping him slightly. “Perfect, babe.” He promised. Spencer got another big smile and spun on his heel.

“Get ready! Get ready!” Spencer urged, moving to the kitchen to get himself another cup of coffee before leaving. Morgan laughed at his boyfriend’s endearing excitement and he pulled on a tight fitting shirt, getting ready to leave.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As soon as they made it to the science center, Derek hurried around the side of the car and opened the door for Spencer. “Wow, what did I do to get such treatment?” Reid grinned, taking Morgan’s hand so he could help him out of the high seat of the truck. In truth, Spencer didn’t need help jumping, no matter how high it was. But the look of pride and fulfillment Morgan got when he took Spencer’s hand and helped him down or gave him any sort of support was just too precious to pass up. He got so happy when he was able to give Spencer a supporting hand here and there, and it meant the world to him, so Reid was okay with swallowing his pride every now and then.

“This is a special day for you, and I want to make it as best as it can be.” Derek told him, making Spencer blush.

“Well I was going to wait to tell you, but I have a surprise for you too. For coming here and making today so special.” Spencer told him. Derek gave him a confused look but before he could even ask, Spencer shook his head and led him to the entrance. “Don’t even ask! You have to wait to find out!”

As the two walked into the science center even Derek was blown away by how large and elaborate the convention was. There were displays and shows as well as merchants selling food and items related to whatever field each floor and display was for. There was a large space exhibit hanging from the ceiling, and Derek could see the spiral stairs lead all the way up as the convention went on and on and on. “Come on! We’ll start here on floor one with the marine and ocean exhibits and make our way up! I can’t wait until we get to the floor with the geology exhibits! I’m so excited to see what kind of specimens the merchants are selling!” Spencer cheered excitedly, pulling on Derek’s hand as they went to the first event. A giant tank built into the wall, full of critically endangered manta rays, it was behind a curtain to keep the area dark. Except the treated light from within the tank is made to mimic the effect of bioluminescence for the animal's comfort.

“Woah.” Derek mused. “This is… awesome.” He started laughing as a manta ray swam towards them and up the side of the wall. “I’ve never seen one of these.” He spoke, looking at Spencer’s face lit up by the soft bluish light.

“Me neither. These were hatched and raised in a conservatory to keep them safe from the rising acidity in the ocean.” Spencer explained, reading from the plaque on the tank. “It’s not safe to move them, so they scheduled the convention based on their shipment to the center. It looks like this is going to be their new home.” He mused.

“No better place than an area full of scientists.” Derek shrugged, and the tank certainly looked large and accommodating enough. There were three in total, a mother and her two babies. “It says we can take a picture with the provided camera.” Derek noted a special polaroid attached to a chain designed with no flash and to pick up on the dim lighting. So a nice picture could be taken without harming the creatures.

“You wanna get in there with your boyfriend? I can help you.” A voice piped up from behind them and Spencer smiled at one of the marine biologists who appeared to be carrying some kind of food (based on the rancid ocean smell, but they didn’t mind so much).

“Yes please!” Spencer beamed, slipping money into the slot for the camera use and pulling Derek to the side of the tank. The intelligent mammals understood something was happening, and the curious babies swam to the edge of the tank where they noticed two new bodies. The camera took a minute to adjust to the light and clicked silently as the picture popped out of the bottom. Spencer thanked the scientist and the babies swam away excitedly when they saw even more people entering the room.

On their way out Derek smiled when he saw a big display of plush baby manta ray stuffed animals next to one of those big bell carnival games on the far side of the room. Likely so the animals wouldn’t get spooked by the noise and crowds. “Check it out! They’ve got games here.” Morgan mused.

“Science types aren’t always boring.” Spencer teased, pulling him to the game. Derek brushed himself off and approached the young employee running the game.

“Check this out, baby, I’m gonna win you one of those.” He claimed, and Spencer had to suppress a giggle as he went over to play.

“I’m not sure you wanna waste your time.” The girl explained. “I think the thing is jammed, not even that beefcake over there could get it past halfway.” She motioned to a muscular man across the room. Derek huffed and picked up the heavy hammer, winking at Spencer. But when he swung it down the ringer only made it a meek three feet off the ground. “I told you, dude, it’s broken.” She repeated.

“No, I’m winning this thing.” Derek insisted.

“Derek, I don’t need a-”

“Spencer, you  _ need  _ this stuffed manta ray.” Morgan insisted. Spencer rolled his eyes and let his boyfriend try a few more times before getting distracted by an assortment of books on the stand next to them. He bought one and slipped it into his messenger bag when he was poked in the back by something soft. Reid turned to see a very proud Derek Morgan offering the plushie like a prized trophy. Spencer looked confused for a minute before looking past him and seeing the game operator counting money.

“I won it for you.” Derek lied.

“You paid off the girl.” Spencer corrected.

“I won it for you with money.” Derek countered. Reid cracked a smile and took the stuffed animal, hugging it close.

“I love it.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The rest of the day went similarly, each floor offered exhibits and information that Sencer reveled in, gathering up as much information as he possibly could. On the geology floor Derek had lost track of Spencer for a minute until he felt something get put on his head. He saw Reid laughing like something was hysterical and he took the baseball cap off his head, it read ‘ask me about my rock hard abs’ and had a picture of some kind of quartz embroidered on it.

“You're hysterical.” Derek said sarcastically, but still put the hat on.

The final floor was the space exhibits, and Derek was positive he’d never seen Spencer more excited. He explained diagrams, pointed out constellations charts and whispered through the entire planetarium show. But Derek wasn’t too interested in the elaborate dome of stars, but more so in the way they reflected off Spencer’s face and eyes as he stared up at them.

“Today was actually a lot of fun, pretty boy.” Derek mused. At hearing Morgan was a novice at most scientific subjects, the attendees of the convention excitedly shared all their information with him, explaining how long they’ve been studying and how excited they were to have him there. Honestly, he was nervous about seeming stupid in comparison to all the science types in attendance, especially paling in intelligence next to his boyfriend. But they’d been so happy and accepting to have him.

“You have an affinity for astronomy!” Spencer beamed. “It took me three astronomy courses to  _ understand _ what Professor Monica was even talking about during her presentation, but you seemed pretty captivated in the planetarium.” Reid explained. Derek smiled a little bit, deciding not to tell him he was more interested in Spencer’s smiles and comments than the lecture itself. But it did seem to come together for him, everyone had something that came easily to them, and something about it just made sense. Also, seeing Spencer’s eyes light up under the stars proved to be a great motivator.

“I’m tired and hungry, are you ready to call it day, Pretty boy?” Derek asked, and Spencer nodded with a big smile, hugging his manta ray to his chest and looking at his watch.

“Perfect timing, your surprise awaits.” Spencer told him, and Derek handed him the car keys, letting him lead the way. But before they could make it to the elevator Spencer was called to attention.

“Dr. Reid, it’s so nice to see you here.” A blonde man who was once of the few people dressed fancily gave Spencer a kind smile. But Reid’s reaction was nervous, and prompted Derek to put a comforting arm around his shoulders.

“Hi, Dr. Lorran.” Spencer responded, his eyes were cast down slightly and he gave Derek a silent nudge to take his hand away, which showed he needed to remain professional at the moment. Which was odd considering how laid back the entire day was. But Derek didn’t take offense, instead he put his guard up toward whoever was making his baby boy so uncomfortable.

“I thought we talked about how to dress at events like this, Spencer?” Lorran began. “I explained the example those of us at a higher calibre must set.” His smile was less friendly and a little more cruel, making Spencer tug self consciously at his sweater.

“I-I know, but everyone else seems so…” Spencer trailed off, because Lorran wasn’t listening. Instead he was looking at Derek.

“I’d expect your friend to come presented like that.” He quipped, and Spencer bristled.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” He demanded.

“Spencer, control yourself. This isn’t the place to have one of your spaztic episodes.” Lorran said condescendingly, acting as though Spencer’s comment was such a disturbance when he hardly raised his voice at all. Spencer’s face flushed a dark red.

“I-I-I wasn’t I-” Spencer’s voice hitched up a bit and Derek noted how he became twitchy, getting more overwhelmed.

“Please get a hold of yourself. This is like your meltdown at the NASA recruitment meeting. I guess that’s why they went with me for the research team.” He gave a grin to the group he was with, a few laughed but others seemed a bit uncomfortable. Spencer’s face was entirely red at this point and he closed his mouth tightly.

“Oh,  _ that  _ research team.” Derek decided it was time for him to chime in. Lorren gave him a smug look.

“What would you know about it?” He asked.

“We’ve spoken about Spencer before. Really I should call him Dr. Reid, but then again that title only implies a single doctorate rather than all three.” Derek began, and Lorren tensed up at this reminder. “It’s such a shame NASA had to settle for their second choice teammate. From what I understand, something insignificant caused Spencer to leave early.” Derek spoke, knowing full well he was speaking to said insignificance.

“I am  _ nobody’s _ second choice!” Lorren exclaimed, causing a few heads to turn.

“Please Dr. Lorren, get a hold of yourself, this isn’t the place for a spaztic episode.” Morgan told him, once again putting an arm around Spencer, who this time accepted it openly. “Well we should get going, busy schedule and all, the FBI keeps their first choice agents on call often.” Derek felt like his taunts were a tad childish, but they seemed to be doing the job as Lorren clenched his jaw and looked at him with fury.

But Spencer and Derek were already gone, walking off to the elevator to end their perfect day. They stood in silence for a moment before Spencer spoke quietly. “Thank you.” He mumbled. Still looking a bit ashamed and embarrassed, his twitching beginning to subside.

“Don’t even think about it, that guy was a total jerk.” Derek said, bitterness creeping into his voice.

“He’s actually a very accomplished scientist.” Spencer muttered. “And he always did this to me! He was the youngest in the field until I came to CalTech and I was always so nervous and so much younger than everybody else. I had so much to prove for myself but it was nerve wracking! He was always able to get me worked up and panicked in front of every single person I was trying to impress! Until I just fell apart and made a fool out of myself! And he always seemed so collected and put together and he was so charming and he understood people and sometimes he never even had to  _ work  _ for anything it wasn’t FAIR!” Spencer cried, before clapping a hand over his mouth and growing very quiet. “I’m sorry for getting spaztic.” He whispered, trying to keep his voice as level as possible.

“Hey, I love your energy, even if it can go off the reigns sometimes. Some people can’t even dream of having your passion.” Morgan promised him, holding his hand a little tighter, and Spencer gave him a smile. A real, passionate smile that made Derek want to cover him in kisses and embarrass each other in front of everyone.

They rode to the first floor in a comfortable silence, Derek giving Spencer's hand a light squeeze every now and again. “I’m sorry that jerk ruined your perfect day.” Morgan started, as they climbed into the car, and to his surprise Spencer gave a laugh.

“He didn’t ruin a thing.” Reid promised, leaning over to wrap his arms around Derek’s neck and give him a big kiss. “All he did was give my boyfriend the perfect, and most romantic opportunity to defend my honor and I’ve never been more swept off my feet.” He grinned, making Derek return the kiss.

“Well then, maybe I should call him up and thank him.” He pondered sarcastically. Spencer laughed and started the car. “So where’s this surprise of mine?” He asked, but Spencer stayed quiet, only giving him an excited smile.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“No way.” Derek was in stunned silence when they pulled up to the seemingly ordinary looking sports bar. “This is…”

“Caligan’s Sports Bar and Tavern!” Spencer grinned. “The place you went to with your dad in Chicago, right?” He asked, folding his hands together nervously, but his nerves were eased when he saw Derek’s huge smile and he pulled his boyfriend inside.

“I used to go here with my dad almost every sunday to watch whatever game was on. Man, it was before I even knew about football so I would pretend to know all the rules like some big shot.” Derek laughed, looking around. “I didn’t know this place was a chain restaurant?” He looked at Spencer, who shrugged.

“It wasn’t but… when you showed it to me when we visited your mom a few months ago you went to the bathroom and to pay. And while you were gone I started chatting with the owner and he was looking to open up a second location.” Reid explained.

“And he just so happened to pick Quantico?” Derek asked, not buying it.

“Well he wasn’t sure where to pick so… I may have spent a few minutes convincing him… and then a few phone calls begging him… and then bribing him, and then finding an affordable restaurant space and bribing him again… and bribing the real estate agent to sell to him… I had some left over gambling money.” Spencer said dismissively.

But his hard work paid off when Derek pulled him in as tight as possible and kissed him until his eyes became unfocused and his big brain short circuited. “You’re a miracle, Spencer.” He told him, still holding onto the genius tightly.

“Well I wanted it to be more special and I tried to call to reserve their nicest table… but then the guy on the phone laughed at me and asked if I even knew what a sports bar was.” Spencer scrunched his face and Derek laughed, kissing him one final time.

“This is already so incredible, Spencer I… thank you.” Derek told him, and Spencer just gave a small shrug.

“It wasn’t much trouble. Just some phone calls.” He assured, a blush covering his face. He felt like Derek was about to keep complimenting and kissing him, but he was sure if that happened his poor heart would just explode and his brain would melt into nothing. After all, he had to be at least coherent to place his order, so he grabbed Derek’s hand and pulled him to a table. “Come on, let’s eat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment and send me prompts if you want! I really appreciate all I hear from you guys!


	17. SCP update

the SCP au is now in its own story! find it under my qorks! I added anew chapter and edited the first chapters a bit so read, comment and enjoy! Link to the new below!

[SCP 118: The Genius](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26545522/chapters/64708666)


	18. A Little Lovin'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bad day at works prompts some confessions from Morgan and Reid. Hotch can be a little harsh sometimes, but every now and then emotions get the best of us.

Derek cringed when he heard the noise from Hotch’s office. He wasn’t yelling, but it was obvious their boss was angry, Strauss had kept him in a conference for hours because of their last case. The unsub must have fulfilled whatever sadistic urges that caused him to kill, and stopped. And with no new evidence or attempts, the team just couldn’t find him. They spent weeks in the town beating a dead horse, but eventually Hotch had to make the call to pack it up, as there were more cases that needed their attention (ones that actually had hope). But as soon as the team made it back, a furious section chief was waiting for them.

Derek knew why Hotch was so angry and upset, he just wished the older man wouldn’t take it out on Spencer.

“Gideon vogued for you, and we took you on this team to keep stuff like this from happening.” Although he was keeping his voice level, Hotch was still speaking loudly, and it was completely unfair and uncalled for.

“I know, I’m sorry I-”

“I don’t want to hear it, Reid. Go finish your write up and try to make it sound like it wasn’t a complete failure.” Hotch grumbled. Derek winced hearing the last comment, Hotch knew as well as anybody that they couldn’t save every last person and catch every last bad guy. There were just too many, and they were too unpredictable. He quickly busied himself with pretending to do work when he saw Reid exit Hotch’s office, moving stiffly.

“Reid, he’s just upset. As soon as he cools off he’s gonna feel horrible about what he just said.” JJ started, and Spencer nodded way too fast.

“No, I know.” He said, his voice way to level and logical. Even for Reid. “People overreact sometimes. It’s no big deal I get it. Of course I get it, I’m supposed to be a genius.” He punctuated this with a little laugh, but the joke didn’t really land. “I just have to… I’m gonna run to get a cup of coffee real quick.” He stated, but Derek saw him enter the restroom instead, likely to get some more privacy.

Derek got up to follow him, needing to make sure he was okay. Because his overly calm dismissive response to JJ was certainly not convincing. Morgan hated the way they ended up treating Reid at times. He was always so smart and calculating, such a valuable resource, sometimes that's all they treated him like; a tool to use. And what Morgan hated the most was that he found himself doing it sometimes too. Dismissing his feelings because a genius should be methodical, Spencer should be quick thinking, emotions muddled reason and reason is what Spencer was here for.

But he wasn’t a robot to plug equations and questions into, he was a person. Who’d been hurt before, who needed sympathy and a gentle touch more often than he’d admit. Maybe even more often than most people. He’d spent his childhood alone, and he craved praise and validation more than he needed air.

“Reid, Pretty boy?” Derek asked, opening the door to the bathroom. “Spencer? Are you in here?” He called quietly, even though he could see Spencer standing over the sink. When he heard the call Spencer’s head snapped up and Derek heard a short sniffle as Reid wiped his eyes quickly, composing himself.

“Yeah! What’s the matter?” Spencer asked, putting on the fakest smile Derek’s ever seen. Morgan sighed and stepped closer to his friend, knowing Reid was too jumpy and insecure to talk about what was bothering him without a fair amount of coaxing first.

“Got chewed out by the boss, I know how that feels.” Derek tried to make a little light of it, but more so tried to tell him  _ ‘you’re not the only one who’s messed up’  _ without coming outright and saying it. “How about I come over tonight?” Derek offered, rather than inviting him over. He knew Spencer took comfort in his own home, his own favorite blanket and couch to curl up on. But he’d find that fact about himself pathetic and embarrassing, no matter how reasonable it was. So Derek didn’t give him the chance to dismiss it. “I’ll bring over some chinese food and soda, and we can watch a movie or something?” He offered.

“Yeah… I’d like that.” Spencer mumbled, a ghost of a smile. “I could uhm… I have a chocolate cake Garcia gave me yesterday, leftover from some bake sale she helped with. It’s still good.” He tried, wringing his hands.

“Sounds like a date.” Derek grinned, and left the bathroom to give Reid another minute by himself. Spencer felt new tears well up in his eyes at Derek’s word choice as soon as the older man was out of sight. Obviously he was joking,  _ ‘sounds like a date’,  _ Derek would never feel that way about Spencer. Ever.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later that night Derek had nearly succeeded in cheering Spencer up. He;d managed to get a few laughs out of the genius, coaxed him into venting a little bit about how unfair Hotch was ebing, and made him feel safe enough to wrap himself up in a soft looking blanket as they watched some terrible horror movie.And soon Spencer found himself wishing this feeling would never ever end. That he could come home everyday to somebody who made him feel this safe and comfortable, and that he’d know what it felt like to love and be loved back.

“It’s late, I should get going.” Derek regretfully said, earning a sad smile from Spencer.

“Alright, get home safe. Thanks for coming over.” Reid told him honestly. They both moved to get off the couch and throw away the empty chinese food cartons, before Derek caught Spencer by taking his hand gently. Reid felt his heart jump up into his throat at the tender touch.

“You know, by tomorrow, Hotch is gonna be begging you to forgive him for how rough he was on you today. You know he’s a good guy, he gets a lot of heat sometimes and he snaps.” Derek explained, and Spencer gave a small smile.

“I know, he always ends up doing the right thing.” Spencer agreed. And the two sat there for a while longer, with Derek’s hand resting over Spencer’s. Reid tried to ignore it and not read into it, but the simple action was making his heart beat wildly and his face flush red.

“You know, Reid, I was really worried about you today.” Derek confessed.

“It’s okay, I was just a little upset, it’s no big deal.” Reid told him.

“But it is a big deal, to me at least.” Morgan continued. “It’s just… I care so much about you, whenever you’re upset or hurt, I feel like it’s my entire world that’s being destroyed.” He told the young genius, and Spencer felt his eyes start to widen. Derek took a breath and took Spencer’s other hand. “When I saw you so upset today I… I need to tell you something.” Morgan told him, and something in Spencer’s eyes shifted. “I’m… I’m in love with you Spencer.” He confessed, but he hardly got the word out before Spencer tore his hand away and backed up, grinding his teeth together and practically seething at Derek.

“Do you think this is  _ funny?!”  _ Spencer cried, his voice breaking as he moved as far from Derek as he possibly could. “You wait till I have one of the worst days of my entire career to play some cruel prank?! I thought you came over cause you actually wanted to cheer me up! What is WRONG with you!?” He was nearly screaming now and Derek was at a loss for words. “Who told you!? Was it Garcia? UGH! I  _ knew _ she’d blab!” Spencer hissed spinning around to face away from the subject of his torment.

“Spencer, woah, woah, woah. Pretty boy what’s-”

“Don’t call me that!” Reid yelled, snapping back to look at him. “I knew this would happen, the minute I fell for you I knew you’d find out and use it to torture me! And the crazy part is… I really thought I was just being paranoid and that you’d never hurt me like that… but  _ here _ we are!” Spencer threw his arms up in a dramatic sense, turning so Derek could see the tears running down his cheeks and the blotchy spots covering his face and neck. “Y’know, I feel like sometimes you all just keep putting more and more and more on me because you wanna see how much it takes to get the prodigy to break! How long I can go without falling apart… well congratulations you just did it!” Spencer cried out, screwing his eyes shut. “I’ll break like everyone else! I’m a person! I’m a person I’m a-”

“Spencer, calm down!” Derek finally raised his voice slightly, but it held no anger. Spencer finally stopped long enough to listen, but he was still breathing heavily and trying to use a furious expression to hide the agony in his eyes. “I’m not pranking you, not even close.” Derek told him. His first instinct would have been to be offended, but Spencer’s been bullied and lied to so many times, he tried not to take it personally.

Spencer seemed to calm down a little bit, his breath evening out. “Garcia didn’t tell you?” Reid asked, and Derek shook his head. “I… I told her how I felt about you awhile ago I… you meant it? You’re not playing a trick on me?” He gave Morgan a look with such insecurity and uncertainty, that he just wanted to bundle the genius up in his arms and never let him go.

“Never, pretty boy, never ever. I meant it.” Derek told him sincerely, and Spencer felt the anger drain and shame replace it.

“So I just flipped out on you… for nothing?” His face flushed a dark red that embarrassed him almost as much as his little outburst did. But Derek laughed lightly with a friendly smile.

“You were always a bit of a spaz.” He joked, but his face fell when he saw more tears welling up in Spencer’s eyes. “NO! No, no, no, no, no! I didn’t mean it like that I was just kidding I really like your energy-” Derek spoke in one breath, grabbing Spencer’s hands desperately, but the genius cut him off.

“It’s not you… it’s  _ Hotch _ .” Spencer whimpered. “I already felt so shitty about the profile being wrong, why did he have to say all that stuff?” He blubbered, falling forward into a big hug from Derek. The bigger man held him tightly as he cried, needing the outlet from all the stress and grief he’s been feeling from the past few days.

“Because he felt the same way, so he messed up.” Derek held him for a long time. “I’m so, so sorry Spencer. I’m sorry that we end up treating you more like a robot than a person, and I never wanted to be the one to do it, but I know I’m guilty of it too.” Morgan confessed, and Spencer sniffled, finally latching onto Derek and hugging him tightly.

“It’s not all your fault.” Reid confessed. “I push myself… I don’t tell anybody when I need help… and I pretend everything’s fine when it’s not fine. I can’t expect you to know when it’s not.” He mumbled, and Derek couldn’t help but nod.

“I’ll try to be more sensitive all around, if you try to tell me when you really need some lovin’. Okay?” Morgan tried, feeling Spencer nod against him.

“Derek?” He mumbled.

“Yeah, pretty boy?”

“I really need some lovin’ right now…”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Derek pulled into the BAU parking lot, this time with Spencer in his passenger seat. Needless to say he didn’t make it home that night. Instead stayed with his pretty boy, let him cry for a while, and then they talked for a long time. Derek told Spencer how he felt about him, and for once Spencer just shut up and listened. And when it was his turn to talk, the chatterbox genius with a vocabulary that could put a thesaurus to shame, had no words. Instead he fell forward and threw himself in Derek’s arm, kissing the older man like his life depended on it.

“Still think I’m pranking you?” Morgan asked with a sly smile, and Spencer rolled his eyes.

“Shut up.” He mumbled, blushing a bit. But he still leaned over his seat to catch Derek in one last kiss before they went into work. When they made it into the bullpen Spencer squeezed Derek’s hand one last time before they parted ways to go to their desks. 

“You think you might wanna watch another movie tonight? Or we could do something else?” Reud questioned, his blush deepening.

“As long as it’s with you, Pretty boy, I'm down.” He agreed, giving Reid a smile. And the events of the previous day had completely left Spencer’s mind (well the bad part of the day, that is). So the genius began to plug away happily at some paperwork, a smile tugging at his lips thinking about how he’d woken up in Derek’s arms that morning.

“Reid, we need to talk.” A voice pulled him out of his daydreams and Spencer looked up to see Hotch take a seat next to him.

“What’s up, Hotch?” Spencer asked with a soft smile, having honestly forgotten about yesterday's event. Hotch had a slightly confused expression but he shook it off.

“I owe you an apology.” Hotch started, and Spencer’s smile faltered as he remembered.

“Hotch, you don’t have to-”

“Yes I do.” Hotch interrupted. “I treated you very poorly yesterday and took out anger on you when you did nothing wrong. It’s not your fault we didn’t have enough information to apply to the profile, and the way that case turned out should not have been placed entirely on you. I’m so sorry.”

“Hotch it’s okay, I get it. The geographical profile was my job and it didn’t come together. And for that I am sorry.” Reid confessed. “You were put under a lot of pressure and you cracked a little, it’s fine. Everybody breaks when they’re in need of a little lovin’, just don’t be ashamed to ask for it.” He grinned, missing Hotch’s confused expression. Reid had never been this forward before, and he’s  _ especially _ never used phrases such as ‘a little lovin’. Not to mention to his boss no less. But Hotch’s eyes cast up when he noted Derek smiling at Spencer, pretending not to be paying attention.

“Ah, I think I understand.” Hotch spoke, mostly to himself. “Well, thank you for being so understanding, I certainly don’t deserve it.” He told the young agent, and Spencer gave him a kind smile as the unit chief walked off, passing Derek’s desk on his way back to his office. “Take care of him, he’s a lot nicer than most of us deserve.” He told the profiler, and this made Derek laugh.

“Maybe more than  _ you _ deserve.” He ribbed, and Hotch rolled his eyes, clearly embarrassed about his behavior yesterday.

“He told me not to be afraid of asking for  _ ‘a little lovin’. _ Not sure he gets the full implication that it gives… Any idea where he learned  _ that  _ from?” Hotch asked, giving Derek a slightly threatening expression, and Morgan put his hands up defensively.

“Hey man, I got no idea where that kid learns this stuff.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took me all day to write!!! Please let me know what you think!


	19. Insecurity of the mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spencer's aways needed extra validation, from everyone. He's always been hard on himself and tried to offer more than he can give at times. But once these behaviors started getting noticeably bad, Derek decides it's time to intervene.
> 
> Just a sweet story of Derek trying to get Spencer to be more confident, I guess you could say this chapter is a character study into a deeper level of Spencer's personality? Cause it's said time and time again how insecure he is, but it's not touched on enough in my opinion. Let me know what you think!

Derek knew what self-loathing looked like, so when he saw the typical displays on his boyfriend, it nearly shattered his heart. Spencer would tug at his clothes more often, and as much as he slouched, he tended to be curling in on himself more recently. He would shy away from Derek’s touches, since the beginning of their relationship really. And Morgan wanted to curse at himself for not picking up signs of deep rooted, psychological self-hate.

“Spencer, do you not have a mirror in your bedroom?” Derek asked, attempting to get ready for the day a few months prior. Spencer had only laughed and motioned Deek to the bathroom. Where there was a tiny scratched up mirror on the medicine cabinet. It was dirty and made his reflection blurry, so later that night Derek had taken it upon himself to use some windex to clean it off. Leaving a crisp clear image in the frame.

Only a few moments later Spencer exited the bathroom looking stressed, rubbing his eye. “You okay, pretty boy?” Derek asked, and the genius cleared his throat stiffly and nodded.

“Y-yeah… did you uhm… did you do something to my mirror?” He asked, his eye twitching just the slightest bit.

“Yeah I could hardly see myself in it this morning, I wiped it off, why?” Derek asked, continuing dinner. But Spencer just shrugged and dismissed it.

“Nothing just… curious is all.” He assured. And Derek let it go, even when he went to brush his teeth that night and the mirror was smudged and blurry again.

Oftentimes Spencer would ask him questions along the lines of “do you still like me?” and when Derek would say yes, Spencer wouldn't drop it. He would drill him more and more for some deeper meaning, like he suspected him of lying. “Like really yes? Or like we’ve been dating for a while and you don’t feel right saying no?” The genius asked him once, panic lacing his face. This had shocked Derek so much he almost dropped his bowl of chili.

“Spencer… What are you talking about? Where did that come from?” He asked, looking deeply concerned, and the panic in Reid’s face didn’t subside; it just grew deeper.

“Nothing! Nothing it was just… stupid, rambling, nothing.” Spencer quickly dropped the subject and became very focused on the tv show they were watching.

It grew to the point that Derek thought Spencer just needed some extra love. Maybe he’d spend a night pampering his genius to make him feel wanted, and that would fix all of this nonsense. So that night he cooked them dinner, and tried to coax Spencer into rambling, but the younger man just kept his mouth screwed shut. Even when tempted with questions about favorite subjects and topics. So Derek led them both to the cough and began to pepper Spencer’s face with kisses, and pet his hair, the way he knew he liked. Spencer let his eyes fall shut and enjoyed the kissing for a while, until they got a little too heated and Derek slipped his hand around the genius’ waist.

Spencer froze and his blissfully hazy mind once again kicked up to lightning speed.  _ If you let him go further he’ll see your disgusting gangly body and leave you-- your face and personality is bad enough as is-- but if you don’t then you won’t be doing what he wants and he’ll leave you, you have to pick one and try and divert his attention away but how- _

“Baby boy, you okay?” Derek asked, so gently. Spencer opened and closed his mouth a few times to try and speak, but nothing came out. Thoughts just kept assaulting him.

_ He’s looking at you now, say something you idiot, what do you do what do you do what do you do what- _

But Spencer didn’t know what to do, and it was all so overwhelming, so he just started to cry. He wanted to hit himself, he was so frustrated with his mind and his thoughts. But Derek seemed to understand, because he just collected Spencer up in his arms and held him tightly. “Shh, it’s okay baby. It’s okay, go on and cry.” He encouraged, so Spencer did. He sobbed into Derek’s shoulder for what felt like hours, but really it couldn’t have been more than ten minutes. And when he finally started to calm down, Morgan scooped him up and brought him to their bed, helping him put on his softest pair of pajamas and wrapped him up in his favorite blanket. Spencer liked soft things. Especially when he got sad or overwhelmed.

“Now how about you tell me everything that’s been going on in that big brain of yours?” Derek coaxed, and Spencer took a shaky breath, and told him everything. His persistent feelings of self loathing, his inability to look at himself in the mirror without getting a wave of crippling depression and anxiety. And most of all his constant fear that Derek would leave him, how he had nightmares of all the different ways it could happen, and woke up listing all the ways he wasn’t good enough. For Derek, for the team, and even for himself.

“Is that why you gunked up your mirror after I cleaned it?” Derek asked, and Spence could only nod, a new wave of fresh tears pouring down his face.

“M’sorry.” He mumbled, sniffling.

“No baby boy, you have nothing to be sorry about.” Derek assured him, kissing his wavey head. Spencer sobbed into his shoulder for a while after that, before finally breathing evenly and calming down. Derek would have thought he was asleep if not for the way he felt his eyelashes tickle his shoulder with each blink. “I know it’s hard to undo what you’ve been told as a kid, by bullies and by yourself. And I know you wanted it to stop when you got older, but it didn’t, it just came in a different form.” Derek mumbled, and Spencer nodded against him. “I promise you, even if it takes the rest of our lives, I’ll convince you how wonderful and loved you are. I promise.”

The next day the mirror was cleaned off again. SPencer wanted to move away, but before he could Derek was behind him, kissing his hair and giving him a bright smile. And then his reflection didn’t look as sickening. Maybe the mirror could stay, for now.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spencer knew he shouldn't have gone out with the rest of the team. He hated clubs, they were too loud and the flights made his head hurt and all the beautiful people flirting and turning heads made him feel painfully ugly and inadequate. Especially when some of those women would eye Derek like he was a piece of candy. One of said women was mocking her way over now, and Spencer subconsciously shrunk in on himself.

“Hey there, are you looking to dance?” She asked Derek, swaying her hips a bit. But Morgan laughed kindly and threw his arm around Spencer’s shoulders.

“Sorry hun, I’m here with my boyfriend.” He punctuated this with a kiss to Spencer’s temple, but the genius turned away. He didn’t catch the way she flushed red embarrassed, or the sincerity in her eyes when she spoke.

“Sorry I didn’t realize, you two make a cute couple.” She gave a friendly smile and went back to join her friends. Derek hoped the compliment would make Spencer perk up a little, but the genius just kept fiddling with his fingers.

“You can go with her… if you’d like.” Spencer started, earning a confused look from Morgan. “It’s just that… I know I’m not enough for you, in a lot of facets, especially physically… but you can- you can go with her, if you want… sleep with her that is… I-I-I wouldn’t accuse you of cheating or anything I-I’d understand and uhm… yeah.” Spencer trailed off and cleared his throat. Morgan noticed the pained expression JJ and Garcia were giving them, Spencer obviously not realizing they’d heard, so he just gave them an assuring wave and diverted his attention back to Reid.

“Spencer, I’m not going anywhere. You’re more than enough for me, and  _ every facet _ .” He promised, and Spencer gave him a shy smile, but it held belief. “Come on, let’s get out of here, i wanna spend some time with just you.” Derek told him, kissing his face and tugging at the genius’ small hands.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I thought you had three BAs?” Derek asked, as the two were sifting through stored boxes in Spencer’s office. He agreed to help the genius move out some clutter, and hopefully soon it would be moving  _ into  _ a home they could share together. But Spencer was still a bit jumpy, and Derek’s house still had too many mirrors for his liking. But it was getting better. Derek no longer had to be standing next to or behind Spencer in order for him to stomach his reflection. Now he could glance up in the mirror, brush his teeth and fix his hair all by himself, and he wouldn’t walk away shaking.

Garcia had even gotten a new phone camera, and when she was laying with it at lunch the previous day and took a bunch of pictures, Spencer didn’t curl in and look down and away. Instead he gave a smile and a shy wave as she snapped a picture. And Derek waited for Spencer to use the restroom before practically begging Garcia to send him the picture. He didn’t tell her much, but he could tell she understood when he let it slip that he didn't have a single picture of Spencer where he wasn’t just in the background, and turning himself away from the camera. And he certainly didn’t have one of his genius  _ smiling _ .

Spencer looked up curiously when he heard Derek’s comment. Derek was holding a diploma that was folded up in one of his old supplies boxes, and Spencer shrugged. “Oh yeah I do-- or I did-- that one was pretty recent so it wasn’t on my resume or anything.” He shrugged.

“You don't seem too excited, pretty boy, normally I can’t get you to shut up about your favorite subjects.” Derek joked, but then kicked himself when a look of grief passed Spencer’s face. “That was a joke, cutie.” He added, giving Spencer a light kiss. His tone sounded like he was saying “you’re so silly” at the prospect of even thinking Derek could be fed up with him.

“Yeah I guess I’m not.” Spencer shrugged. “It was cool I guess but, I got it in philosophy and I guess it’s just not one of my favorites.” He explained, pulling some old books out and dusting them off.

“If you don’t like philosophy, why’d you take an entire course on it?” Derek asked, confused. And Spencer shrugged.

“Eh, Gideon said I should. He said I’d be wasting my brain on just maths and sciences, and I should do it. So I did.” Reid explained offhandedly. Derek stared at the sheet for a while longer and noted how it was just folded up and put in a box with old office junk.

“Do you  _ like _ philosophy?” Derek asked, and Spencer’s shoulder deflated.

“I hate philosophy.” He mumbled in a quiet voice, without looking up.

“Then why’d you get a degree in it?” Morgan asked, and Spencer gave a long sigh.

“Because… I don’t know… Gideon said I should and I wanted to do a good job and…” Spencer trailed off. “I wanted  _ him _ to  _ say _ I did a good job.”

“Well, what did he say?”

“I told him I got my degree, he asked if it was a PHD, I said no, that I didn’t have the time… and he said  _ ‘oh’ _ .” Spencer explained, talking slow and quiet. “And then he said to go file any case reports that might have been left behind.” He coughed like he was nervous, and Derek was dumbstruck. Not only did this kid pay tuition and course fees for a class he didn’t want to take, he attended the courses and got perfect scores-- for a subject he hated. All for validation. Validation he didn’t even  _ get.  _

Derek was positive he never hated Gideon more. And if the senior agent ever showed his face at the BAU again, Derek wasn’t sure he’d be able to stop himself from hitting him.

“You know, Gideon was really proud of you. He thought really highly of you, you impressed him with everything you did.” Derek spoke carefully, and Spencer shrugged. “It’s true, he’s told me that before.”

“He’s never told me.” Spencer whispered. “He said he was proud of me once, after my first LDSK case… but I think he was just proud I finally managed to work a gun.” He laughed self-deprecatingly, and Morgan felt his heart squeeze painfully. Now he was positive that if he ever saw the senior agent again, he’d punch him clean in the face.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spencer got a mirror for his bedroom. It was small, and it stayed tilted down when it wasn’t in use. But it was bigger and better than the dingy one attached to his medicine cabinet (which has remained clean for some time now), and he looked in it to fix himself up every morning. And Derek also noted that Spencer had some new pictures framed on his desk. A few of Derek and the team, Spencer included. And one of Derek and Spencer together, Spencer was looking in the camera and smiling. No bashful glance down, no hidden insecurity, just a happy picture of a happy couple.

It wasn’t much, just a small mirror that stayed tilted down, and two photos. Only one of which showed his face. It wasn’t much. But it was a good start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment! Give me prompts if you have them!!! I love hearing from you guys!!!!!


	20. Everything's okay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a team lockdown Derek learns somethings about Spencer, and months later, Spencer learns some things about Derek.
> 
> sorry for the longer chapter! I hope you like it please please let me know what you think!!! This one took me a while hahaha, expect some fluff next!!!

“When I die I wanna come back as an armadillo.” Spencer explained, putting his head back on his chair and looking at the ceiling.

“You get weird when your brains not occupied, huh?” Elle asked, joining the group with a set of mugs of coffee.

“It’s just so weird being here and not working a case or doing paperwork or anything.” Spencer explained, taking one of the cups. “Are we even sure we’re still in danger?” He asked, giving curious glances to his teammates.

“Nobody leaves until Giles is processed and in prison.” Hotch explained. He was facing away, but with no more papers of evidence to run through he was just twirling his pen in his hands. “Those letters were very clear about wanting us all dead.” He added in a grave tone.

“Well he’s a deranged narcissist. He wanted the nation's finest FBI team to be focused on him.” Elle recapped, and Morgan rolled his eyes.

“Too bad he talked a bigger game than he could handle.” Derek smirked, causing Spencer to laugh lightly, but he screwed his mouth shut when Gideon glared at him. Morgan adjusted himself in his chair. “Come on guys, the case was cut and dry and we’re stuck here until some guy who was a little too  _ sweet on us  _ gets processed and thrown in jail. He’s not even on the loose anymore, we're just following protocol.” He urged, trying to get his friends to relax a tiny bit. He was mostly concerned about Hotch's grave expression as if they were still tracking an unknown unsub, and the way Spencer’s hands twitched periodically.

Gideon looked like he was about to say something pessimistic, but Elle beat him to it with a light quip. And Derek didn’t know at the time how much he was gonna miss her sense of humor. “Come on, Hotch, lighten up. Is that a pokeball mug?” She deterred, pointing to the red and white cup in the unit chief’s hands.

He cracked a smile. “Jack got it for me. It took him about a half an hour of explaining to make sure I _really_ understood what it was before he let me even touch it.” He explained, earning a laugh from his teammates.

“Did you learn anything interesting?” Derek asked, and Hotch rubbed his eyes.

“I’m a terrible father for losing track about three minutes in… but I believe his favorite is a bird called artichoke?” He pondered for a minute, wracking his brain to figure out what exactly the young boy had told him.

“Articuno. It’s uh… an ice bird.” Spencer cut in, his face flushing a little red.

“I knew you’d be into pokemon, it’s right up there with star trek and sci-fi.” Derek ribbed, and Spencer flushed a little deeper.

“I uhm… when I was little, like really little, before I moved up some grades and I was with kids my own age.” Spencer started, before shaking the thought a bit and remaining positive. “A friend of mine named Andy had a bunch of those pokemon cards, a huge collection, he was obsessed. But none of us knew how to play.”

“Woah, woah, woah, there was a card game that  _ you _ couldn’t figure out?” Elle interrupted and Spencer laughed a little.

“Are you kidding?  _ No one _ knows how to play that game, it’s one of life’s greatest mysteries. We just collected the cards.” He explained, this time making even Gideon and Hotch laugh. “So we didn’t actually know how to play the card game, but we still played with the cards. We would pretend to ‘battle’ and just, frisbee the cards at each other.” Spencer explained, making a throwing motion. “And it was fine cause they were just paper, but later that year they came out with these collectable cards that were really thick and made with some kind of metal. Like aluminum or tin or something. And as stupid kids we thought ‘hey I bet we could throw these a whole lot farther’!” Spencer gave a nervous grin and JJ and Elle began to laugh, already knowing where this was going. Even Hotch had a grin as he was shaking his head.

“Reid, do not tell me…” He started, but the genius just stopped him and continued his story.

“So me being the wonderfully smart child I was, got the bright idea to bend them into points! Y’know, cause they were metal. That way we could flick these little pointed pieces of metal at each other from across the playground.” Spencer continued, and Derek put his face in his hands. 

“Oh no.”

“So I told Andy to try and catch it, and I flicked the pointed metal card… not taking into account how aerodynamic they would be and how far and fast it would fly… and it hit him directly in the left eye. And everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong. And his eye began to bleed, a lot.”

“You blinded your friend.” Morgan recapped, and Spencer sighed.

“Looking back on it, I’m pretty sure it traumatized all of us. Cause there was so much blood and Andy just started screaming and we ran and ran and ran, and then one of our teachers found us and  _ she _ started screaming. It took a full year for his eye to heal and his mom sent this letter to my dad saying is she ever saw me around him ever again she’d press charges and see that I went to jail-”

“How old were you?” Derek asked.

“Five.” Spencer explained, and the table erupted in laughter.

“And she wanted you to be sent to prison?!” JJ cried. “I mean you were just a kid.”

“Yeah.” Spencer sighed. “So that’s the story of how I blinded my friend because of Pokemon.” He concluded. The table was all stifling laughs and Gideon put his head in his hands. “Are you upset with me?” Spencer tentatively asked his mentor, who just rubbed his eyes.

“I’m just… stunned.” He admitted, smiling slightly. “You know one time when I was young I found a whole bunch of hunting knives my dad had collected. And I got two of my friends to throw them at me while I insisted I was able to catch them midair.”

“How are you alive?” Elle asked, full sincerity, and Gideon looked at his left hand.

“Thank god my friend Dylan had a weak arm, and the scar actually healed up… but I put my hands out to catch it, it stabbed my hand, and we all ran home crying.”

“At least you got your arm up in time, do you realize what could have happened if the knife had hit your face?” Spencer asked.

“Then I would have been in the same boat as that poor bastard stuck being your friend.”

The laughter fizzled out when Hotch’s phone rang, but after answering and a few short nods he hung up. “Giles is being questioned by officers about a possible partner in his crimes… we know he’s a pathological liar but we can’t take any chances.”

“If there’s more than one unsub we should get over there-” Derek was cut off by Gideon.

“Right now we have to treat everything he does as a taunt, by rushing over there we may be playing into whatever delusion or fantasy he wants. We stay here until directed to do otherwise.” He explained, earning a nod from Hotch.

“Look I know it’s hard for all of you to stay put and stay out of this, but we need to treat this unsub as a non threat.” Hotch explained. A few collective nods and the stories continued.

“I’ve brought snacks, my lovelies!” Garcia chirped, interrupting. “And a few drinks courtesy of a few friends not in lockdown.” She smiled, placing a few bottles on the table.

“We really shouldn’t have alcohol in here.” Spencer stressed, looking over his shoulder as if his boss and mentor weren’t already sitting in front of him. “W-what if we get in trouble?” He asked, raising a hand to his face. Garcia practically cooed at the comment and Derek clapped a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry pretty boy, we won’t tell if Hotch doesn’t.” He bribed, throwing a glance at the unit chief. Hotch looked like he was about to say something, but he noticed Spencer’s honestly distressed expression. “Come on you're not gonna give my pretty boy a panic attack, are you?” He tempted, and Spencer felt like his heart might pop. Because if getting in trouble wasn’t enough to panic him, then his current workplace crush calling Spencer  _ “his” _ definitely was.

Okay maybe it was a little more than a workplace crush, maybe the truth was Derek occupied Spencer’s thoughts day and night and- “Reid, it’s fine.” Hotch interrupted his trail of thought and the genius’ head snapped up. Oh right, Hotch still thought he was panicking over the alcohol.

“R-right… okay.” Spencer assured, taking a plastic cup from Garcia but didn’t drink right away. She then proceeded to put some chips and dip on the table, and Spencer’s face turned practically green when he saw the jar of french onion dip.

“Spence, you look like you’re about to puke.” JJ laughed. “Don’t like dip?” She asked, and Spencer shook his head.

“No it’s not really that, have you ever gotten sick after eating something and then you can’t even stomach the sight of it?” He asked, and Elle made a face, sticking her tongue out.

“Yes. Ew, for me it’s chicken fried rice. And such a bummer too I used to love that stuff.” She grimaced and Spencer. “So how did french onion dip make you so sick?” She asked, hoping to get another humorous story out of the genius who seemed to have more of them than she initially gave him credit for. “Gorge yourself at a college party or something?”

“Not exactly.” Spencer laughed. “One time when I was seven and I came home from school I was really hungry, but there was no food in the house, save for a jar of that dip.”

This comment made Derek look up a little concerned. “There was no food?” He asked, and Spencer waved him off.

“Yeah but that’s beside the point.” He dismissed it. “Anyway the only food in the entire house was a jar of that stuff and a little over a day passed before I finally got so hungry I just ate the whole jar and ended up puking it all up.” He began laughing like the story wasn’t at its core heartbreaking.

“Nobody noticed you didn’t have food for a whole day?” Derek asked, keeping his voice low, and Spencer shook his head like it didn’t really matter.

“Stuff happens.” Was all he said. “What about you, Elle, how’d you get sick eating fried rice?” He asked, making it clear that he didn’t see anything wrong with the story he’d just told. So Elle shook it off and tried to lighten the mood with her own humorous anecdote. But all Derek could think about was seven-year-old Spencer starving in his own home while his father stayed distant and his mother periodically forgot he existed.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The night went on as the team got progressively looser, if they were going to be stuck in the office without work to do and unable to leave, they mind as well relax and try to have a good time. Spencer had finally caved and tried his drink, and now he was loopily trying to show Garcia a slight-of-hand trick. “Wait, wait, wait, I almost have it.” He insisted, but it was kind of hard to focus after whatever was in that drink Garcia gave him, so his fingers fumbled and he dropped the quarter once again. “I give up.” He mumbled, putting his head in his hand. 

“Where’d you learn those tricks anyway?” Garcia asked.

“I used to play in the walls a lot as a kid.” Spencer remarked, earning laughs from his friends. “I’m serious, I would climb through the vent and read and do magic tricks.” He explained, beginning to slur a little. “I still uhm… I still do uhh…” He rubbed his eyes as Elle burst out laughing at the way he was talking. Spencer was definitely a lightweight.

“What are you trying to say?” Elle asked.

“Uhm… before I was saying… an armadillo! I changed my mind!” He perked up quickly, finding his words. “I changed my mind. Instead I wanna come back as a squid. Swim all ‘round ‘n stuff.” He explained, moving his arms like they were tentacles.

“It was a bad idea to let him drink.” Hotch just commented from across the room. He mumbled something about the kid being barely legal and went back to his conversation with JJ and Gideon.

“He’s fine.” Derek insisted, putting a hand on Spencer’s shoulder. “Right, pretty boy?” He asked with a sly grin, but when he looked down Spencer looked greener than he did when he saw the french onion dip.

“I think I might… I feel… bad…” Spencer barely got the words out before running a few feet to the trash can and puking. Coughing in a pathetic way that made Derek cringe.

“Derek, come on. Take him to the bathroom and make sure he’s okay.” JJ instructed, and Morgan threw his arms out.

“Why is this my fault? Baby girl’s the one who brought the booze.” He defended.

“You kept pouring him more, you should have known better he’s like a little bambi.” Garcia countered.

“It doesn’t matter, just help him.” JJ repeated, and Derek quick scooped Spencer up and took him off to make sure he wasn’t too messed up.

“You alright, pretty boy?” Derek asked, as Spencer splashed some water on his face in the men’s room.

“Y-yeah I’m g-good.” Spencer assured. “I didn’t get sick on myself so that’s good. I’ll uh, deal with the trash can.” He promised, and Derek laughed.

“Just take a minute.” Morgan told him, and Spencer nodded.

“I’ve read about alcohols and their effects and what being drunk does to your brain and body but I didn’t know it would feel like this.” Reid explained, making Derek smile again.

“There are some things that you can’t get from books.” Morgan explained, helping Spencer sit down on the floor for a moment. It was quiet for a minute.

“Derek?” Spencer murmured, and the older man looked at him. “I think I’m gonna be sick again.” Reid wrapped his arms around himself and Derek quickly helped him up and to the toilet before he threw up for a second time. This time Derek felt extremely guilty when he saw some tears spring up in Spencer’s eyes and his face redden from the lack of breath.

“I really shouldn’t have kept refilling your cup.” He admitted, ashamed. “Why didn’t you tell me you haven’t drank before?” Morgan asked.

“I have drank before.” Spencer corrected. “Just never hard liquor… or more than one drink at a time…” He admitted, blushing in embarrassment.

“Then why’d you keep going?” Derek continued, and Spencer blushed deeper.

“Cause you all were and I didn’t want you to say I wasn’t because I was just a kid cause m’not a kid…” Spencer slurred, and Derek felt even more guilty than before. “We were all talking and you guys asked me to tell stories about myself and I really felt like I wasn’t just a team member but like a friend.” He confessed. Derek sighed and put his arm around Reid.

“I’m sorry for making you feel like that.” He confessed. “But if it means anything, I had a lot of fun getting to know you like that. I never thought about the Spencer Reid I knew in that context.” He explained with a smile, and Spencer laughed.

“You mean the kid who blinds his friend with a pokemon card?” He asked, and the two began to laugh. But when it died down Derek sighed.

“Yeah but, also I never appreciated how rough you had it as a kid. And yet you still managed to grow up to be such a good, kind hearted person.” He explained, and Spencer looked at him confused. Derek sighed and thought it best to explain. “I mean… growing up with a dad that didn’t care and mom who was…” Morgan trailed off, leaving it unsaid. “It couldn’t have been easy. You didn’t even have food in your own house.” He explained, and Reid got a pained expression.

“I didn’t mean to give all that away… I guess I didn’t think about it like that… I just felt so comfortable with you guys like I could say anything.”

“You can, you can tell us anything, we’ll always be here for you.” Morgan promised. And Spencer sort of just stared for a while. “What is it, pretty boy?” Derek asked, and Reid swallowed, looking away.

“I wasn’t just playing in the walls…” Spencer mumbled, and when Morgan looked confused he drew his knees up to his chest. “I was hiding.”

“Who were you hiding from?” Morgan asked, feeling as though his insides were just frozen solid. Reid slowly cast his gaze up, and Derek almost cried when he saw tears sparkling in his genius’ eyes.

“M’not a bad person…” He whispered, and Derek just nodded assuringly. “I was hiding… I was hiding from my mom…” Spencer choked out and Morgan stifled a gasp. “I knew… I knew she loved me, it wasn’t her fault she was just sick… did you know 13.2% of schizophrenia patients become violent at some point, which is much more people than the number would have you believe.” Spencer said this part very logically and Morgan nodded, rubbing his back.

“I know, I know.” He promised.

“But she’d forget who I forget who I was… or think I was replaced by an imposter… and that I was evil.” Spencer’ words were disconnected as he rubbed his eyes. “She’d… she’d get a knife, or scissors or a letter opener… and she'd scream at me and try to-to-to-” Spencer burst out into tears and Derek collected him in his arms, hushing him. He didn’t need to say it.

“It’s okay, it’s okay.” Morgan promised.

“It wasn’t her fault.” Reid blubbered. “But I was still so  _ scared _ . And dad was never home, even before he left he was never home… I would run or hide but she’d find me and eventually I started to crawl into the wall. I’d bring a flashlight and books and stay in there for hours. I’d hear her screaming and trying to find me but… I knew I was safe in the wall, so I just tried to tune it out. I’d wait till I saw her go to sleep through the vent and come out, and then by the time she woke up the episode was over, and she wouldn’t remember.” Spencer explained, tears dripping down his face and wetting Derek’s shirt. The older man didn’t know what to say, so he just held the crying, shaking genius.

“It’s okay, Spencer, it’s all okay now.” Derek promised, petting his hair. And Spencer stilled, then pulled away to look at Derek with a grave expression. “What is it, pretty boy?”

“That’s not the bad part…” He whispered, like it was some horrible secret. So Derek leaned in. Spencer clenched his teeth and screwed his eyes shut, before looking at Derek with a desperate expression. “I  _ hated _ her.” Spencer confessed, anger seeping into his voice, and Morgan looked confused for a moment.

“What?”

“I knew she was sick, I knew I had to care for her and it wasn’t her fault… but when I was in those walls, nobody could see me, or judge me, and I was so scared and alone… so I  _ hated her _ .” Reid spoke with anger in his voice as he looked away from Derek, ashamed of what he was feeling. “I would crawl in there and  _ hate her _ ! And then when I would come out I’d hate myself! Because what kind of awful person hated somebody for being sick?!” Spencer asked, and Derek shook his head.

“No, no, no. You were just a kid, you had every right to be upset and angry at what life had dealt you.” Morgan explained. “You're a good person and you never hated your mother, you were a child and needed an outlet.” He explained.

“No! I’m BAD!” Spencer cried, gripping his hair with his hands. “I carved it on the inside of the walls. Of her own home. Over and over I would write ‘I hate you’ ‘I hate you’ she should have killed me with those scissors-”

“Spencer! No! Just… no.” Derek told him, pulling him into a tight hug. “You are not bad. And the fact that you feel guilty, and understand she was just sick, you’re better than most people.” He explained.

“You don’t hate me now that you know?” Spencer asked, his eyes becoming a little droopy.

“No pretty boy, I could never.” Derek promised, collecting the boy in his arms and feeling him go limp as he passed out from the tears and alcohol.

“Morgan, Giles was processed and we’re able to go it’s-” Hotch cut himself off when he opened the door to the men’s room and saw the scene in front of him. Derek with tears in his eyes holding a passed out Spencer Reid. So the unit chief only gave a brief nod. “Get him home safe. I’ll see you both on Monday.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few months had passed since the bathroom incident, and the resulting week Spencer seemed to avoid Morgan like the plague. He tried not to take offense, knowing Spencer probably felt embarrassed and exposed by sharing things he’d never uttered, while drunk no less. But once he realized Morgan was being truthful about the fact that he could tell him anything, their friendship grew deeper. The two had an unspoken trust between each other, and as much as Spencer loved it, it wasn’t helping his crush go away very much.

And now Derek was starting to wonder what he really felt for the young genius ever since he held him so, so close that night. And it wasn’t until he had to confront his previous events with Carl Buford that he had to confront his current feelings for Reid.

The night after the Chicago case was all said and done Derek sat down on his bed in the motel room and ran his hand over his head. Constant thoughts assaulted his brain and he gave a bitter laugh, wondering if this is what Spencer felt like all the time. He sat alone in crushing silence for a long time, too long, his eyes periodically opening and closing. It wasn’t until there was a light knock on the door that made Morgan clench his teeth.

“I don’t wanna be evaluated right now.” He snapped at whichever one of his teammates was trying to pry. But he heard nervous fidgeting from the other side of the door and a tentative, nervous sound.

“It’s uhm… I wasn’t going to eval- “ A nervous cough. “I j-just wanted to see you I…” Derek opened the door up to see a very nervous looking Spencer in the hallway, his hands clasped behind his back and his head bowed.

“Spencer-” Derek was about to tell the kid to get lost, but Reid cut him off.

“You know a while ago you told me that I could tell you anything, and you proved that to be true. I don’t wanna make you talk, I just wanted to let you know the same goes for you. If you ever want to or need to… just tell me.” Spencer explained, and then turned around. “I’ll give you some space.” He told the older man, not guilt tripping or animosity. Just innocent concern.

“Reid wait!” Derek stopped the young genius from walking away, and Spencer looked back curiously. “I… I’d really like to talk to you.” He admitted, deflating a bit, and Spencer gave a kind yet sad smile.

The genius came into the motel room and sat down on the chair across from the bed as Morgan walked to the mini fridge to pour a drink. He looked at Spencer to see if there was any judgement, but he found none. “You want a drink, pretty boy?” He asked. And Spencer shook his head when he saw the bottles of hard liquor.

“I learned the hard way I can’t handle the hard stuff.” Spencer admitted, blushing a bit, and he was glad that this earned a laugh from Derek.

“You’ve only been a legal drinker for three years.” He offered, but Spencer rolled his eyes.

“You don’t need to try and make me feel  _ grown-up _ .” Spencer said sarcastically. “I know you and Elle were taking shots at sixteen.”

“Tell my mom that and it’ll be the last fact you share.” Derek joked, giving a fake look of fury. Reid laughed lightly and it was quiet for a moment. “You know I really did want to talk to you… but I guess part of what bothered me so much about this is that… there’s nothing you don’t already know. It’s like my biggest secret and shame was just put on full display, for everyone.” Derek explained.

“There’s no shame in surviving.” Was all Spencer could think to say. It was quiet again. “If there’s nothing more to tell me, why don’t you just say how you feel?” The genius offered, and Morgan leaned back.

“I feel betrayed, and stupid and scarred… and tiered.” Derek started, rubbing his eyes. “I feel like after this everyone is going to look at me differently.” He explained.

“That’s certainly fair.” Spencer found himself admitting. Derek stared at the genius for a long time.

“You’re not looking at me any differently.” He noted.

“I guess… it’s hard for me to understand how you’re any different.” Spencer confessed, looking down like he was worried his words would be taken the wrong way. “It’s like, even though I never knew before it was still something that happened. And you’re still the same Derek that you were before, it’s just this time I have more information.” He tried to explain, and Morgan found himself nodding. “Do you… want a hug?” Spencer tried. But Derek shook his head. “I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t have even asked that it’s just you’re such a tactile person I was-”

“Reid,  _ Spencer _ , it’s alright.” Morgan promised, and Spencer let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “I actually… I don’t know how to describe it. I am tactile, and I do want a hug, but I don't want someone else putting their hands on me, y’know?” He asked, and Spencer nodded, truly understanding. It was quiet again as Derek looked at Spencer. “Do you think I could… nevermind.” Morgan cut himself off.

“What is it?” Reid asked, tilting his head.

“No it’s… you don’t like being touched much and I was just being selfish and-”

“Derek, just ask.” Reid told him in a kind tone, assuring everything would be okay.

“Do you think that… Do you think I could hold you?” Morgan asked, and if Spencer didn’t know any better he’d think Derek was blushing. “You don’t have to-”

“That would be okay.” Spencer cut him off, moving to sit next to him on the bed. Derek gave him a questioning look but Spencer just gave a reassuring look. “I… I’d actually like that.” Reid promised, and Morgan nodded, wrapping his arms around the skinny genius and pulling him close. As soon as Spencer was in his arms Derek found himself nuzzling his soft hair and holding him tight, almost like he was all those months ago. It was comforting, the same feeling you got as a child and you clutched onto your favorite stuffed animal. But this stuffed animal was Spencer Reid, and he was kind and smart and listened when you needed to talk and comforted when you needed it.

Morgan held him tight as the two leaned against the headboard, and they stayed like that for a very long time. “I feel like there’s something you want to say too.” Derek noticed, seeing the way Spencer would glance up and back down.

Reid knew there was no point in trying to trick a skilled profiler like Morgan , so he responded truthfully. “There is.” He mumbled.

“Why don’t you tell me?”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I can’t.” Spencer just repeated. But Derek knew, he could see the signs, the way Spencer’s eyes lit up and the way he relaxed into his touch.

“Are you in love with me?” Derek just bit the bullet and asked.

“Yes.” No hesitation. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to tell you like this, especially now.” Reid tried to wriggle out of Derek’s grasp but the older man just held him back. “Derek you don’t have to-” But Spencer was cut off when Morgan spun him around and kissed him, hard. When he pulled back Spencer felt like his brain was short circuiting. “I uhm… Aren’t you- are you not-” Spencer sputtered and Derek gave a kind smile, understanding his words without hearing them.

“Not with you, pretty boy.” He promised. “With you… everything’s okay.”


End file.
